• Med. J. Aust. · Feb 2023

    Emergency department presentations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Queensland (to June 2021): interrupted time series analysis.

    • Amy L Sweeny, Gerben Keijzers, Andrea Marshall, Emma J Hall, Jamie Ranse, Ping Zhang, Gary Grant, Ya-Ling Huang, Dinesh Palipana, Yang D Teng, Benjamin Gerhardy, Jaimi H Greenslade, Philip Jones, and Julia L Crilly.
    • Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD.
    • Med. J. Aust. 2023 Feb 20; 218 (3): 120125120-125.

    ObjectivesTo assess emergency department (ED) presentation numbers in Queensland during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to mid-2021, a period of relatively low COVID-19 case numbers.DesignInterrupted time series analysis.SettingAll 105 Queensland public hospital EDs.Main Outcome MeasuresNumbers of ED presentations during the COVID-19 lockdown period (11 March 2020 - 30 June 2020) and the period of easing restrictions (1 July 2020 - 30 June 2021), compared with pre-pandemic period (1 January 2018 - 10 March 2020), overall (daily numbers) and by Australasian Triage Scale (ATS; daily numbers) and selected diagnostic categories (cardiac, respiratory, mental health, injury-related conditions) and conditions (stroke, sepsis) (weekly numbers).ResultsDuring the lockdown period, the mean number of ED presentations was 19.4% lower (95% confidence interval, -20.9% to -17.9%) than during the pre-pandemic period (predicted mean number: 5935; actual number: 4786 presentations). The magnitudes of the decline and the time to return to predicted levels varied by ATS category and diagnostic group; changes in presentation numbers were least marked for ATS 1 and 2 (most urgent) presentations, and for presentations with cardiac conditions or stroke. Numbers remained below predicted levels during the 12-month post-lockdown period for ATS 5 (least urgent) presentations and presentations with mental health problems, respiratory conditions, or sepsis.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic and related public restrictions were associated with profound changes in health care use. Pandemic plans should include advice about continuing to seek care for serious health conditions and health emergencies, and support alternative sources of care for less urgent health care needs.© 2022 The Authors. Medical Journal of Australia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of AMPCo Pty Ltd.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

Want more great medical articles?

Keep up to date with a free trial of metajournal, personalized for your practice.
1,694,794 articles already indexed!

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.