A Closer Look Into Global Hospital Beds Capacity and Resource Shortages During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, there is a question of whether hospitals have adequate resources to manage patients. We aim to investigate global hospital bed (HB), acute care bed (ACB), and intensive care unit (ICU) bed capacity and determine any correlation between these hospital resources and COVID-19 mortality.

Method: Cross-sectional study utilizing data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other official organizations regarding global HB, ACB, ICU bed capacity, and confirmed COVID-19 cases/mortality. Descriptive statistics and linear regression were performed.

Results: A total of 183 countries were included with a mean of 307.1 HBs, 413.9 ACBs, and 8.73 ICU beds/100,000 population. High-income regions had the highest mean number of ICU beds (12.79) and HBs (402.32) per 100,000 population whereas upper middle-income regions had the highest mean number of ACBs (424.75) per 100,000. A weakly positive significant association was discovered between the number of ICU beds/100,000 population and COVID-19 mortality. No significant associations exist between the number of HBs or ACBs per 100,000 population and COVID-19 mortality.

Conclusions: Global COVID-19 mortality rates are likely affected by multiple factors, including hospital resources, personnel, and bed capacity. Higher income regions of the world have greater ICU, acute care, and hospital bed capacities. Mandatory reporting of ICU, acute care, and hospital bed capacity/occupancy and information relating to coronavirus should be implemented. Adopting a tiered critical care approach and targeting the expansion of space, staff, and supplies may serve to maximize the quality of care during resurgences and future disasters.

Keywords: Bed capacity; COVID-19; Global health; Hospital resources.

Fig. 1

Number of Hospital Beds per 100,000 Population. The majority of countries with hospital bed data reside in the 0-299 hospital beds/100,000 population range: 79 (43%) countries had <200 hospital beds/100,000 population whereas 37 (20%) countries reported 200-299 hospital beds/100,000 population. In contrast, only 13 (7.1%) countries reported ≥700 hospital beds/100,000 population. The number of hospital beds per 100,000 population ranged from 100 in Mali to 1870 in the Virgin Islands. Countries shaded in gray did not have data for the number of hospital beds. (Color version of the figure is available online.)

Fig. 2

Number of Acute Care Beds per 100,000 Population. The number of acute care beds∗ per 100,000 population ranged from 190 in Andorra to 1119 in Monaco. Countries shaded in gray did not have data for the number of acute care beds. ∗Acute Care Beds were defined as hospital beds that are available for curative care. (Color version of the figure is available online.)

Fig. 3

Number of ICU beds per 100,000 Population. The number of ICU beds per 100,000 population ranged from <1 in many African countries to >25 in the United States, Tajikistan, and Italy. The majority of countries reported ICU beds/100,000 in the 0-4.9 range: 23 (26.1%) countries reported <1 ICU beds/100,000 population, whereas 27 (30.7%) countries reported ICU beds/100,000 in the 1.0-4.9 range. In contrast, countries with >5 ICU beds/100,000 comprised a smaller percentage of countries, including 15 countries (17.0%) with 5-9.9 ICU beds/100,000, 8 countries (9.1%) with 10-14.9 ICU beds/100,000, 5 countries (5.7%) reporting 15-19.9 ICU beds/100,000, 7 countries (8.0%) with 20-24.9 ICU beds/100,000, and 3 countries (3.4%) reporting >25 ICU beds/100,000. Countries shaded in gray did not have data for the number of ICU beds. (Color version of the figure is available online.)