Study finds decline in emergent hospitalizations during early phase of COVID-19
Decline in emergent medical, surgical and obstetric hospitalizations
reported at BIDMC

Date:
July 23, 2020
Source:
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Summary:
Researchers report on the decline of emergent medical, surgical
and obstetric hospitalizations at the medical center during the
six-week period following the week of the declaration of the
COVID-19 public health emergency in Boston in mid-March 2020.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Early reports have shown the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a decline
in patients seeking outpatient medical care. Whether and how the pandemic
has impacted patients seeking care for emergent conditions -- emergent
medical, surgical and obstetric hospitalizations -- remains unclear,
though emerging studies, including one from colleagues at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) demonstrate a reduction in patients
seeking care for heart attack, stroke and cancer care.


==========================================================================
In a new study published today in the Journal of General Internal
Medicine, researchers from BIDMC report on the decline of emergent
medical, surgical and obstetric hospitalizations at the medical center
during the six-week period following the week of the declaration of the COVID-19 public health emergency in Boston in mid-March 2020. Comparing
data from the same period in 2019, the authors found a 35 percent
decrease in weekly hospitalizations overall and 45 percent decrease in
weekly hospitalizations that were not related to COVID-19.

"Our findings suggest that patients with life-threatening conditions may
have been avoiding the hospital in the early wave of COVID-19 which may
help explain recent reports of increased mortality from diseases other
than COVID-19 during this time," said Timothy Anderson, MD, the study's
lead author and a general internist and health services researcher in
the Division of General Medicine at BIDMC and Instructor in Medicine at
Harvard Medical School. "Continuing to follow trends in mortality and
hospital use after the COVID surge will be important for determining if patients who delayed care are now suffering worse health and may help
inform wider public health responses to future waves of the epidemic."
The researchers identified all hospital admissions from BIDMC between
January 1, 2019, and April 25, 2020. Then, the researchers examined the
weekly incidence of overall admissions to emergent medical, surgical, obstetric, and psychiatric services, as well as hospitalizations for
COVID-19 in 2020. After conducting a time-series analysis comparing
the same six week periods, year against year, the authors found there
were significantly fewer weekly hospitalizations for emergent medical conditions. They report a 51 percent decrease in acute medical conditions,
such as cardiac arrest or stroke; a 31 percent decrease in acute surgical conditions, such as appendicitis; a 55 percent decrease in chronic disease exacerbations, such as diabetes or asthma and 13 percent decrease in
obstetric hospitalizations.

"We are able to see from the data that the number of hospitalizations
were down, but it's not clear why. People may have decided not to seek
care out of fear of contracting the virus, but it's also possible that
some people, such as college students, left Boston at the start of
the epidemic, reducing the overall population," said Shoshana Herzig,
MD, MPH, Director of Hospital Medicine Research at BIDMC, Associate
Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and senior author on
the study. "Further studies are needed to determine the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on long-term outcomes of patients delaying care for
acute and chronic conditions." In addition to Anderson and Herzig,
co-authors include Jennifer P. Stevens, Adlin Pinheiro, and Stephanie Li,
all of BIDMC.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Beth_Israel_Deaconess_Medical_Center. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Timothy S. Anderson, Jennifer P. Stevens, Adlin Pinheiro,
Stephanie Li,
Shoshana J. Herzig. Hospitalizations for Emergent Medical,
Surgical, and Obstetric Conditions in Boston During the COVID-19
Pandemic. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2020; DOI:
10.1007/s11606-020-06027-2 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200723172005.htm

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