The long-run effect of COVID-19 on hospital emergency department attendances:evidence from statistical analysis of hospital data from England

IF 3.6 3区医学 Q1 HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES

Health Policy Pub Date : 2024-09-30 DOI:10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105168

Nikita Jacob, Rita Santos, Peter Sivey

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital emergency departments worldwide experienced a pronounced fall in utilisation of emergency care, with a decrease of up to 40% in many countries. Evidence suggests the cause of these changes include both population fear of COVID-19 and the effects of lockdowns and the interaction of these two effects. We analyse a sub-sample of national data on Accident and Emergency (A&E) attendances in England over an extended period from April 2019 to March 2022 for different patient groups, including by age, mental/physical health status, acuity, and common clinical groupings. Our results showed that all patient groups experienced substantial declines in attendances during the first two waves of the pandemic, including high acuity and cardiovascular patients. Mental health patients were the only exception, with a smaller decline in attendances. Our findings suggest that policymakers should recognise the potential harmful effects of lockdowns, public messaging, and changes in health care provision on all patients during health emergencies.

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COVID-19 对医院急诊室就诊人数的长期影响：英格兰医院数据统计分析的证据

在 COVID-19 大流行期间，全球医院急诊科的急诊使用率明显下降，许多国家的降幅高达 40%。有证据表明，造成这些变化的原因包括人们对 COVID-19 的恐惧、封锁的影响以及这两种影响的相互作用。我们分析了英格兰从 2019 年 4 月到 2022 年 3 月这一较长时期内不同患者群体的全国事故和急诊（A&E）就诊数据子样本，包括按年龄、精神/身体健康状况、严重程度和常见临床分组进行的分析。我们的研究结果表明，在大流行的前两波中，所有患者群体的就诊人次都出现了大幅下降，其中包括重症患者和心血管病患者。精神疾病患者是唯一的例外，就诊人次下降幅度较小。我们的研究结果表明，政策制定者应该认识到在卫生紧急情况下，封锁、公共信息发布和医疗服务的改变对所有患者可能产生的有害影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Health Policy 医学-卫生保健

CiteScore

6.40

自引率

6.10%

发文量

157

审稿时长

3-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Health Policy is intended to be a vehicle for the exploration and discussion of health policy and health system issues and is aimed in particular at enhancing communication between health policy and system researchers, legislators, decision-makers and professionals concerned with developing, implementing, and analysing health policy, health systems and health care reforms, primarily in high-income countries outside the U.S.A.