Department of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, Konyang University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, Konyang University Hospital, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Front Public Health. 2024 May 30;12:1374766. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1374766. eCollection 2024.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has profoundly affected the utilization of rehabilitation services. Existing evidence investigating this issue at the nationwide level is lacking, and it is uncertain whether the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of rehabilitation therapy of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy. This study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the rehabilitation therapy of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy.
We obtained data from South Korea's Health Insurance Review and Assessment Agency for 2017-2021. By analyzing the claims data, we focused on rehabilitation therapy in individuals with CP under 18 years of age. We categorized these according to therapy type (physical, occupational, or dysphagia), medical facility, hospital visits, and insurance. We calculated the patient counts and average claims per person and compared the average from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the 5 years, there was a significant decline in the number of patients undergoing rehabilitation therapy (trend = 0.004), but the average claims per person remained stable (trend = 0.971). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the average number of claims per person decreased significantly compared to the control period ( = 0.013). Both the physical ( = 0.049) and occupational therapy groups ( = 0.019) showed significant differences in claims. General hospitals and hospitals experienced a decrease in average cases by 2.2 ( < 0.001) and 2.4 ( < 0.001) respectively, while long-term care hospitals increased by 3.1 cases ( < 0.001). Outpatients showed a decline of 2.0 cases ( < 0.001), whereas inpatients showed an increase of 5.9 cases ( < 0.001). Individuals with health insurance decreased by 0.5 cases ( = 0.007), but the decrease of 0.08 cases among medical aid-covered individuals was not statistically significant ( = 0.898).
In 2020-2021, the average number of claims per person showed a significant decrease compared to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period (2017-2019). Depending on the type of treatment, the number of claims for physical and occupational therapy significantly decreased.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行对康复服务的利用产生了深远的影响。目前缺乏全国范围内研究这一问题的现有证据，尚不确定 COVID-19 大流行对患有脑瘫的儿童和青少年康复治疗的影响。本研究旨在探讨 COVID-19 对脑瘫儿童和青少年康复治疗的影响。
我们从韩国健康保险审查和评估机构获取了 2017-2021 年的数据。通过分析索赔数据，我们关注了 18 岁以下患有脑瘫的个人的康复治疗。我们根据治疗类型（物理、职业或吞咽困难）、医疗机构、就诊次数和保险对这些进行了分类。我们计算了患者人数和每人的平均索赔额，并比较了 COVID-19 大流行前后的平均值。
在 5 年期间，接受康复治疗的患者人数明显下降（趋势 = 0.004），但每人的平均索赔额保持稳定（趋势 = 0.971）。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，与对照期相比，每人的平均索赔额显著下降（ = 0.013）。物理治疗（ = 0.049）和职业治疗组（ = 0.019）的索赔均有显著差异。综合医院和医院的平均病例数分别减少了 2.2（ < 0.001）和 2.4（ < 0.001），而长期护理医院则增加了 3.1 例（ < 0.001）。门诊人数下降了 2.0 例（ < 0.001），而住院人数增加了 5.9 例（ < 0.001）。有健康保险的人减少了 0.5 例（ = 0.007），但医疗援助覆盖的人减少了 0.08 例，无统计学意义（ = 0.898）。
2020-2021 年，与 COVID-19 大流行前（2017-2019 年）相比，每人的平均索赔额显著下降。根据治疗类型的不同，物理治疗和职业治疗的索赔数量明显减少。
