• Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Dec 2021

    The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on dermatology consultation requests from adult and pediatric emergency departments.

    • Neslihan Demirel Öğüt, Gülsün Hazan Tabak, Duygu Gülseren, Başak Yalıcı-Armağan, Neslihan Akdoğan, Sibel Doğan, Gonca Elçin, Ayşen Karaduman, and Sibel Ersoy Evans.
    • Department of Dermatology and Venereology, School of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
    • Int. J. Clin. Pract. 2021 Dec 1; 75 (12): e14906.

    AimThis study aimed to determine the characteristics of dermatology consultation requests from the adult and paediatric emergency departments (EDs) of a university hospital during 8 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and to compare them with the same 8 months of 2019.Materials And MethodsElectronic medical records of dermatology consultation requests from adult and paediatric EDs between 15 March 2019 and 15 November 2019, and between 15 March 2020 and 15 November 2020 were retrospectively reviewed.ResultsThe study included 495 consecutive dermatology consultation requests. In total, 283 (57%) consultation requests occurred in 2019, vs 212 (43%) between in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of consultation requests per day was significantly lower in 2020 (0.9 ± 0.1 per day) than in 2019 (1.15 ± 0.1 per day; P = .002), and was significantly lower in March, April and May 2020, as compared with March, April, and May 2019 (P = .004, P = .001, and P = .001, respectively). The median time from onset of dermatological symptoms to ED presentation was significantly longer in 2020 than in 2019 (4 days in 2019 vs 7 days in 2020; P < .001). Dermatological emergencies in 2019 and 2020 constituted 6.7% of all emergency presentations, with no significant difference between the 2 years (7.1% of all ED presentations in 2019, vs 6.1% in 2020; P = .795).ConclusionCOVID-19 restrictions and fear of COVID-19 infection might have discouraged patients from presenting to EDs because of skin problems; however, the easing of COVID-19 restrictions might lead to an increase in ED presentations, including non-urgent dermatological disorders. In order to reduce unnecessary use of EDs and prevent ED overcrowding, the general public should be educated about what constitutes a dermatological emergency.© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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