Background The protection of vulnerable populations is a central task in managing the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to avoid severe courses of COVID-19 and the risk of healthcare system capacity being exceeded. To identify factors of vulnerability in Austria, we assessed the impact of comorbidities on COVID-19 hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and hospital mortality. Methods A retrospective cohort study was performed including all patients with COVID-19 in the period February 2020 to December 2021 who had a previous inpatient stay in the period 2015–2019 in Austria. All patients with COVID-19 were matched to population controls on age, sex, and healthcare region. Multiple logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (OR) of included factors with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results Hemiplegia or paraplegia constitutes the highest risk factor for hospitalization (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.44–1.79), followed by COPD (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.43–1.53) and diabetes without complications (OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.37–1.46). The highest risk factors for ICU admission are renal diseases (OR 1.76, 95% CI 1.61–1.92), diabetes without complications (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.46–1.69) and COPD (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.41–1.66). Hemiplegia or paraplegia, renal disease and COPD constitute the highest risk factors for hospital mortality, with ORs of 1.5. Diabetes without complications constitutes a significantly higher risk factor for women with respect to all three endpoints. Conclusion We contribute to the literature by identifying sex-specific risk factors. In general, our results are consistent with the literature, particularly regarding diabetes as a risk factor for severe courses of COVID-19. Due to the observational nature of our data, caution is warranted regarding causal interpretation. Our results contribute to the protection of vulnerable populations and may be used for targeting further pharmaceutical interventions.
Background The COVID-19 pandemic posed a substantial shock to health service provision, in particular regarding hospital services. The reasons and also rationales for reduced health service provision were manifold ranging from limited supply due to resource restrictions, limited demand in order to avoid infections or due to reduced incidence of various diseases, and postponement of elective services. Nevertheless, the provision of services for acute care at an adequate level is paramount to avoid patient harm. Methods Hospital admissions were analysed via administrative DRG data reported by Austrian hospitals. We compared health service provision on a monthly basis between 01/2018 and 12/2021. Services were classified according to ICD-10 and encompassed admissions due to acute heart failure, stroke, accidents, knee and hip surgery and breast cancer surgery. Results Our findings show that hospital admissions for acute heart failure decreased by up to 25% between 03/2020 and 05/2020. In contrast, no significant difference to the initial pre-pandemic levels could be observed in the later stages of the pandemic. Stroke admissions remained at the initial levels throughout the whole period of analysis, while a substantial decrease (up to 50%) in admissions because of accidents was observed whenever severe NPIs were in place. Knee and hip surgery levels dropped in line with increasing ICU occupancy rates caused by COVID-19 patients. Decreases in breast cancer surgery could only be observed (up to 20%) during the four months of the pandemic (03-06/2020). Conclusions Our analysis provides an aggregated insight into service provision management in Austrian hospitals throughout the pandemic. While acute care was continuously provided for most areas of diseases and elective surgeries were widely postponed in line with pressure on ICU capacities, the decline in breast cancer surgery demands attention and further clarification of whether this decline was supply- or demand-driven. Key messages • During the pandemic inpatient acute care services were continuously provided for most diseases in Austrian hospitals while elective surgeries were postponed in line with pressure on ICU capacities. • The pandemic posed a substantial challenge to service provision management in hospitals and unwarranted levels of service provision so far indicate areas of action for future (pandemic) preparedness.
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