Department of Population Health and Disease Prevention, University of California Irvine, 653 E. Peltason Dr, Irvine, CA, 92697-3957, USA.
Department of Health, Society, and Behavior, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
J Immigr Minor Health. 2023 Dec;25(6):1286-1294. doi: 10.1007/s10903-023-01499-w. Epub 2023 Jun 3.
Emergency department (ED) visits for conditions unrelated to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic decreased during the early pandemic, raising concerns about critically ill patients forgoing care and increasing their risk of adverse outcomes. It is unclear if Hispanic and Black adults, who have a high prevalence of chronic conditions, sought medical assistance for acute emergencies during this time. This study used 2018-2020 ED visit data from the largest safety net hospital in Los Angeles County to estimate ED visit differences for cardiac emergencies, diabetic complications, and strokes, during the first societal lockdown among Black and Hispanic patients using time series analyses. Emergency department visits were lower than the expected levels during the first societal lockdown. However, after the lockdown ended, Black patients experienced a rebound in ED visits while visits for Hispanics remained depressed. Future research could identify barriers Hispanics experienced that contributed to prolonged ED avoidance.
急诊科（ED）因与 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行无关的疾病就诊减少，这引发了人们对重症患者放弃治疗和增加不良后果风险的担忧。目前尚不清楚在这段时间里，是否有患慢性病比例较高的西班牙裔和非裔成年人因急性急症寻求医疗帮助。本研究使用了洛杉矶县最大的医疗保障医院 2018-2020 年的急诊科就诊数据，通过时间序列分析，估计在第一次社会封锁期间，黑人和西班牙裔患者的心脏急症、糖尿病并发症和中风的急诊科就诊差异。在第一次社会封锁期间，急诊科就诊量低于预期水平。然而，封锁结束后，黑人患者的急诊科就诊量出现反弹，而西班牙裔患者的就诊量仍处于低迷状态。未来的研究可以确定导致西班牙裔患者延长急诊科就诊回避的障碍。
