Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Dermatology Outpatient Department at a Tertiary Hospital in Eastern China: A Pre-Post Study

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has considerable impact on health care system in the world directly. Although the pandemic has been effectively controlled, people's lifestyle, stress of job, economic status and health conditions have all changed. Therefore, it is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the distribution of diseases in dermatology outpatient department, especially in the post-pandemic era and how we should respond to these changes.

Objective: We aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on diagnosis of dermatology outpatient department in eastern China.

Methods: A pre-post study design was a retrospective study to assess the changes of diseases diagnoses from the outpatient department of Dermatology, Taicang first people's hospital, Suzhou University, Suzhou, China in the 2021 (Post-COVID-19 pandemic) compared to the 2019 (Pre-COVID-19 pandemic). Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS 23.0 and Excel 2010. The data were analysed by methods independent t-test and Pearson's chi-square test. A two-sided p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A total of 67,994 patients in 2019 and 67,288 patients in 2021 were included in the study. During the pre-pandemic year, the most common diagnoses in the outpatient department were urticaria, fungal dermatitis, acne, herpes zoster, seborrheic dermatitis. Urticaria, acne, allergic dermatitis, fungal dermatitis, herpes zoster, were statistically more common in the post-pandemic period. Acne, animal-related diseases, allergic dermatitis, insect dermatitis, alopecia, and verruca vulgaris diagnoses were found to increase statistically during the post-pandemic period when compared with the pre-pandemic period.

Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic had a minimal effect on the average yearly dermatology outpatients department visits, but the distribution of dermatology diagnoses was affected. As a result, governments and health departments may introduce innovative ways and training of medical teams according to the impact of the pandemic to ensure normal medical care.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; dermatologic diseases; dermatology outpatient; diagnostic distribution; pre-post study.

Figure 1

The number of dermatology clinic visits per month in 2019 and 2021. The number of the patients are represented by the vertical lines. The orange line represents 2019, and the gray line represents 2021.

Figure 2

The diagnostic distribution of 51 skin diseases has changed significantly in post-pandemic compared to pre-pandemic. The diagnoses of skin diseases are represented by the vertical lines. The number of diagnoses are represented by the horizontal lines.