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Editorial
. 2020 Sep;20(9):2612-2617.
doi: 10.1111/ajt.16239.

Potential indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on use of emergency departments for acute life-threatening conditions - United States, January-May 2020

Samantha J Lange  1   2 , Matthew D Ritchey  1 , Alyson B Goodman  1   2 , Taylor Dias  3 , Evelyn Twentyman  1 , Jennifer Fuld  2 , Laura A Schieve  2 , Giuseppina Imperatore  1 , Stephen R Benoit  1 , Aaron Kite-Powell  2   3 , Zachary Stein  3 , Georgina Peacock  2 , Nicole F Dowling  1 , Peter A Briss  1 , Karen Hacker  1 , Adi V Gundlapalli  2   3 , Quanhe Yang  1
Affiliations
Editorial

Potential indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on use of emergency departments for acute life-threatening conditions - United States, January-May 2020

Samantha J Lange et al. Am J Transplant. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

This article describes a significant decline in emergency department visits for acute life-threatening conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that patients may be delaying or avoiding care or unable to access care during the pandemic.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Number of emergency department (ED) visits for myocardial infarction, stroke, and hyperglycemic crisis.* National Syndromic Surveillance Program, United States, week 1, 2019–week 21, 2020†. COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019. *Includes diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic syndrome. †Week 1, 2019 (week ending January 5, 2019) to week 21, 2020 (week ending May 23, 2020)
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Absolute decreases in number of emergency department (ED) visits for myocardial infarction, stroke, and hyperglycemic crisis between COVID-19 prepandemic* and early pandemic periods,† by sex and age group.§ National Syndromic Surveillance Program, United States, 2020. COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019. *Prepandemic (weeks 2-11) corresponds to January 5–March 14, 2020. †Early pandemic (weeks 12-21) corresponds to March 15–May 23, 2020. §There was a slight absolute increase in ED visits for stroke among males aged 0-17 y and for hyperglycemic crisis among females aged 75-84 y
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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