• Frank Naujoks, Uwe Schweigkofler, Wolfgang Lenz, Jörg Blau, Ingo Brune, Volker Lischke, Holger Adler, Ina Schindelin, Hasti Rouchi, Holger Chobotsky, and René Gottschalk.
• Gesundheitsamt Frankfurt am Main, Breite Gasse 28, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland.
• Notfall Rettungsmed. 2023 Jan 1; 26 (1): 303830-38.

BackgroundTo contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, public life was reduced through contact restriction measures (referred to as "lockdown" in the further course for reading simplicity), among other things to make health system resources available for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. In parallel, a decrease in emergency patients was observed in the public health system.MethodsFor two 10-week periods before and during the lockdown, ambulance service deployment rates were analysed in 6 ambulance service areas for 6 tracer diagnoses. Random effects were minimised by comparing the results with the corresponding 2018 and 2019 time periods and a calculated expected value.ResultsFor emergency ambulance service calls, there was a reduction in call numbers (-16%) during the lockdown. A 20% reduction for the categories cardiac and cerebral ischaemia was found. In the urban area, the reduction in cardiac ischaemia was less pronounced at 14% than in the surrounding area at 23%. The deployment figures for intoxications decreased by 27% and for psychiatric emergencies by 16%.ConclusionThe public ambulance service was not overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic; there was a decrease in depolyments during the lockdown. For the reduction in cerebral or cardiac ischaemias, the explanatory models for the influence of the lockdown are missing. Further studies on the utilisation behaviour of the ambulance service during a lockdown appear necessary in order to detect potentially fatal reductions in utilisation for the patient outcome and to be able to counteract them through education.© Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature 2021.

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