Emergency Department Visits for Serious Diagnoses During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

The effect of COVID-19 on emergency department imaging: what can we learn?

“…Lange et al showed that, in the 10 weeks following the declaration of the pandemic in the USA, ED visits declined 23% for myocardial infarction, 20% for stroke, and 10% for hyperglycemic crisis [12]. Similarly, Kim et al reported that ED visits for conditions that would ordinarily warrant surgical consultation, such as appendicitis and bowel obstruction, decreased by 33.7%, a trend that paralleled reductions in all major diagnoses in that study [11].…”

“…In a study of 280 stroke centers out of China, a 40% reduction in stroke admissions was reported [ 18 ]. The authors of these studies postulated that decreased emergent healthcare utilization during the pandemic may have been attributable to a common fear among the general public of contracting COVID-19 in medical centers, a concern that in the USA was substantiated by public health communications that discouraged individuals from seeking ED care unless severely ill [ 11 ]. We speculate that our observation of a marked reduction in ED patient volumes can likewise be explained by the fear of contagion and widespread public health and news media messaging that all but the most severely ill patients should not seek in-person emergent medical care.…”

“…During the early pandemic period (defined by Hartnett et al as March 29-April 25), the total number of ED visits in the USA was 42% lower than the same period a year earlier [9], an observation attributed to patient concern of contracting COVID-19 from other patients in the ED [10,11]. Lange et al showed that, in the 10 weeks following the declaration of the pandemic in the USA, ED visits declined 23% for myocardial infarction, 20% for stroke, and 10% for hyperglycemic crisis [12].…”

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on visits of an urban emergency department

“…This fear of contracting a “deadly condition” might have led patients to avoid seeking medical attention, and therefore, a delay in seeking care could have led to increased mortality and morbidity, especially for time-sensitive acute life-threatening conditions [ 9 ]. Kim et al reported a significant reduction in cardiac and neurologic diagnoses during the early pandemic period, but an increase in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests [ 10 ]. Similarly, the current study showed a two-fold increase in red zone admissions despite the significant decrease in ED visits.…”

Decreased hospital admissions through emergency departments during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…As the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic spread across the United States in 2020, emergency department (ED) visits steeply declined. An analysis of the data from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program demonstrated a 42% decrease in overall weekly ED visits nationwide [1], while several additional studies showed a substantial decline in volume relative to 2019, including decreases in presentations for syncope, cerebrovascular disease, myocardial infarction, pneumonia, and for exacerbations of COPD and heart failure [2]- [7].…”