tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Eur Surg
. 2021 Mar 4;1-7.
doi: 10.1007/s10353-021-00692-1. Online ahead of print.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on the utilization of acute surgical care in the State of Salzburg, Austria: retrospective, multicenter analysis
Jaroslav Presl[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Martin Varga[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Christof Mittermair[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Stefan Mitterwallner[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Michael Weitzendorfer[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ana Gabersek[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Kurosch Borhanian[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Andreas Heuberger[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Helmut Weiss[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Klaus Emmanuel[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Burkhard von Rahden[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Oliver Owen Koch[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: Some medical disciplines have reported a strong decrease of emergencies during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; however, the effect of the lockdown on general surgery emergencies remains unclear.
Methods: This study is a retrospective, multicenter analysis of general surgery emergency operations performed during the period from 1 March to 15th 2020 lockdown and in the same time period of 2019 in three medical centers providing emergency surgical care to the area Salzburg-North, Austria.
Results: In total 165 emergency surgeries were performed in the study period of 2020 compared to 287 in 2019. This is a significant decrease of 122 (42.5%) emergency surgeries during the COVID-19 lockdown (p = 0.005). The length of hospital stay was reduced to 3 days in 2020 compared to 4 in 2019. Appendectomy remained the most performed emergency surgery for both periods; however the number of surgeries was reduced to less than a half, with 72 cases in 2019 and 33 cases in 2020 (p = 0.118). Emergency colon surgery observed the strongest decrease of 75% from 17 cases in 2019 to 4 in 2020. In addition, the emergency abdominal wall hernia, cholecystectomies for acute cholecystitis, small surgeries and proctological emergencies recorded drops of 70%, 39%, 33% and 47% respectively. The strongest reduction in frequencies of emergency surgeries was reported from the designated COVID center in the examined region.
Conclusions: Emergency general surgery is an essential service that continues to run under all circumstances. Our data show that COVID-19-related restrictions have resulted in a significant decrease in the utilization of acute surgical care.
Keywords: Appendectomy; Colorectal surgery; Emergency; Pandemic; SARS-CoV?2.
. 2021 Mar 4;1-7.
doi: 10.1007/s10353-021-00692-1. Online ahead of print.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on the utilization of acute surgical care in the State of Salzburg, Austria: retrospective, multicenter analysis
Jaroslav Presl[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Martin Varga[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Christof Mittermair[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Stefan Mitterwallner[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Michael Weitzendorfer[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Ana Gabersek[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Kurosch Borhanian[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Andreas Heuberger[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Helmut Weiss[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Klaus Emmanuel[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Burkhard von Rahden[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Oliver Owen Koch[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33686347
- PMCID: PMC7930888
- DOI: 10.1007/s10353-021-00692-1
Abstract
Background: Some medical disciplines have reported a strong decrease of emergencies during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; however, the effect of the lockdown on general surgery emergencies remains unclear.
Methods: This study is a retrospective, multicenter analysis of general surgery emergency operations performed during the period from 1 March to 15th 2020 lockdown and in the same time period of 2019 in three medical centers providing emergency surgical care to the area Salzburg-North, Austria.
Results: In total 165 emergency surgeries were performed in the study period of 2020 compared to 287 in 2019. This is a significant decrease of 122 (42.5%) emergency surgeries during the COVID-19 lockdown (p = 0.005). The length of hospital stay was reduced to 3 days in 2020 compared to 4 in 2019. Appendectomy remained the most performed emergency surgery for both periods; however the number of surgeries was reduced to less than a half, with 72 cases in 2019 and 33 cases in 2020 (p = 0.118). Emergency colon surgery observed the strongest decrease of 75% from 17 cases in 2019 to 4 in 2020. In addition, the emergency abdominal wall hernia, cholecystectomies for acute cholecystitis, small surgeries and proctological emergencies recorded drops of 70%, 39%, 33% and 47% respectively. The strongest reduction in frequencies of emergency surgeries was reported from the designated COVID center in the examined region.
Conclusions: Emergency general surgery is an essential service that continues to run under all circumstances. Our data show that COVID-19-related restrictions have resulted in a significant decrease in the utilization of acute surgical care.
Keywords: Appendectomy; Colorectal surgery; Emergency; Pandemic; SARS-CoV?2.