The Impact of the Covid-19 Outbreak on Emergency Room Attendances of Surgical Patients

NCT ID: NCT04338672

Last Updated: 2020-04-21

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: UNKNOWN
• Total Enrollment: 10000 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2020-04-05
• Study Completion Date: 2022-04-01

Brief Summary

Since December 2019, when the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) spread throughout the world, data have been needed on the effects of the pandemic on various aspects of healthcare systems. Recommendations for social distancing and quarantine decrees made by local governments, alongside the general public fear from the spread of the virus, are presumed to have markedly affected the trends in hospitals visits. Understanding the exact nature of the effect is critical for better anticipating and preparing health systems in the event of future outbreaks and in the post outbreak period. Therefore we intend to To identify retrospectively all patients who presented to the emergency department at our medical institute between January 1 - March 31 in the following years: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020. We will examine the impact of COVID-19 on the rates of surgical emergency visits, ratio of surgical visits to non-surgical visits, the ratio of severe presentations to non-severe presentations, and the impact of age on ED attendance.

Detailed Description

Since December 2019, when the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) spread throughout the world, data have been needed on the effects of the pandemic on various aspects of healthcare systems. Recommendations for social distancing and quarantine decrees made by local governments, alongside the general public fear from the spread of the virus, are presumed to have markedly affected the trends in hospitals visits. Understanding the exact nature of the effect is critical for better anticipating and preparing health systems in the event of future outbreaks and in the post outbreak period. Additionally, deferring hospitals visits can potentially put patients at increased risk for morbidity and mortality, especially in postsurgical patients. Evaluating the impact of the pandemic on patient volume can guide decision-making in future scenarios.

Previous infectious disease outbreaks have been shown to impact ED volumes: The US Hantavirus outbreak in 1993 led to a 2-fold increase in ED visits; Escherichia coli 0157:H7 outbreak in Washington state in 1993 increased ED visits by 17%; However, the 2003 SARS outbreaks in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Toronto reduced tertiary care ED visits by up to 47 percent.

Conditions

Emergency Service, Hospital; General Surgery

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: COHORT
• Study Time Perspective: RETROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

Pandemic Period

Patients who presented to the emergency department at our medical institute Sheba Medical Center between January 1 - March 31 in 2020.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Intervention Type: OTHER

Exposure: the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak

Pre Pandemic Period

Patients who presented to the emergency department at our medical institute Sheba Medical Center between January 1 - March 31 in the following years: 2017, 2018, 2019,

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

COVID-19 Pandemic

Exposure: the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• All patients visiting the ER of Sheba Medical Center between January 1 - March 31 in the following years: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020

Exclusion Criteria

• Patients less than 18 years of age

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Sheba Medical Center

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

Sheba Medical Center

Ramat Gan, , Israel

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

Israel

Central Contacts

Roi Anteby, MD

Role: CONTACT

roi.anteby@sheba.health.gov.il

19293011120

Facility Contacts

Roi Anteby, MD

Role: primary

roi.anteby@sheba.health.gov.il

+972545882207

References

Heiber M, Lou WY. Effect of the SARS outbreak on visits to a community hospital emergency department. CJEM. 2006 Sep;8(5):323-8. doi: 10.1017/s148180350001397x.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 17338843 (View on PubMed)

Chen WK, Cheng YC, Chung YT, Lin CC. The impact of the SARS outbreak on an urban emergency department in Taiwan. Med Care. 2005 Feb;43(2):168-72. doi: 10.1097/00005650-200502000-00010.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 15655430 (View on PubMed)

Anteby R, Zager Y, Barash Y, Nadler R, Cordoba M, Klang E, Klein Y, Ram E, Gutman M, Horesh N. The Impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak on the Attendance of Patients with Surgical Complaints at a Tertiary Hospital Emergency Department. J Laparoendosc Adv Surg Tech A. 2020 Sep;30(9):1001-1007. doi: 10.1089/lap.2020.0465. Epub 2020 Jun 23.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 32589496 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

SMC-20-7078-YZ-CTIL

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id