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Impact of COVID-19 Related Lockdown on the Frequency of Acute and Oncological Surgeries—Lessons Learned From an Austrian University Hospital

Innsbruck Medical University Hospital, Austria, provides the highest level of care for a region of approximately 1.8 million people. During the early COVID-19 outbreak in spring 2020 surgical activity was drastically reduced with the prime goal of preserving hospital capacities, especially intensive...

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Autores principales: Abram, Julia, Gasteiger, Lukas, Putzer, Gabriel, Spraider, Patrick, Mathis, Simon, Hell, Tobias, Martini, Judith
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8365164/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34409000
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.625582
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author Abram, Julia
Gasteiger, Lukas
Putzer, Gabriel
Spraider, Patrick
Mathis, Simon
Hell, Tobias
Martini, Judith
author_facet Abram, Julia
Gasteiger, Lukas
Putzer, Gabriel
Spraider, Patrick
Mathis, Simon
Hell, Tobias
Martini, Judith
author_sort Abram, Julia
collection PubMed
description Innsbruck Medical University Hospital, Austria, provides the highest level of care for a region of approximately 1.8 million people. During the early COVID-19 outbreak in spring 2020 surgical activity was drastically reduced with the prime goal of preserving hospital capacities, especially intensive care beds. We conducted a retrospective analysis of surgical activities performed at Innsbruck Medical University Hospital during the lockdown period from March 15 to April 14, 2020 and compared these activities to the same period during the previous 5 years. Total surgical activity was reduced by 65.4% compared to the same period during the previous 5 years (p < 0.001); elective surgeries were reduced by 88.7%, acute surgeries by 35.3% and oncological surgeries by 47.8% compared to the previous 5 years (all p < 0.001). This dramatic decrease in acute and oncological surgeries can most likely be ascribed to the fact that many patients avoided health care facilities because of the strict stay-at-home policy and/or the fear of contracting SARS-CoV-2 in the hospital. In view of future waves, the population should be encouraged to seek medical help for acute symptoms and to attend cancer screening programs.
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spelling pubmed-83651642021-08-17 Impact of COVID-19 Related Lockdown on the Frequency of Acute and Oncological Surgeries—Lessons Learned From an Austrian University Hospital Abram, Julia Gasteiger, Lukas Putzer, Gabriel Spraider, Patrick Mathis, Simon Hell, Tobias Martini, Judith Front Public Health Public Health Innsbruck Medical University Hospital, Austria, provides the highest level of care for a region of approximately 1.8 million people. During the early COVID-19 outbreak in spring 2020 surgical activity was drastically reduced with the prime goal of preserving hospital capacities, especially intensive care beds. We conducted a retrospective analysis of surgical activities performed at Innsbruck Medical University Hospital during the lockdown period from March 15 to April 14, 2020 and compared these activities to the same period during the previous 5 years. Total surgical activity was reduced by 65.4% compared to the same period during the previous 5 years (p < 0.001); elective surgeries were reduced by 88.7%, acute surgeries by 35.3% and oncological surgeries by 47.8% compared to the previous 5 years (all p < 0.001). This dramatic decrease in acute and oncological surgeries can most likely be ascribed to the fact that many patients avoided health care facilities because of the strict stay-at-home policy and/or the fear of contracting SARS-CoV-2 in the hospital. In view of future waves, the population should be encouraged to seek medical help for acute symptoms and to attend cancer screening programs. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-08-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8365164/ /pubmed/34409000 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.625582 Text en Copyright © 2021 Abram, Gasteiger, Putzer, Spraider, Mathis, Hell and Martini. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Abram, Julia
Gasteiger, Lukas
Putzer, Gabriel
Spraider, Patrick
Mathis, Simon
Hell, Tobias
Martini, Judith
Impact of COVID-19 Related Lockdown on the Frequency of Acute and Oncological Surgeries—Lessons Learned From an Austrian University Hospital
title Impact of COVID-19 Related Lockdown on the Frequency of Acute and Oncological Surgeries—Lessons Learned From an Austrian University Hospital
title_full Impact of COVID-19 Related Lockdown on the Frequency of Acute and Oncological Surgeries—Lessons Learned From an Austrian University Hospital
title_fullStr Impact of COVID-19 Related Lockdown on the Frequency of Acute and Oncological Surgeries—Lessons Learned From an Austrian University Hospital
title_full_unstemmed Impact of COVID-19 Related Lockdown on the Frequency of Acute and Oncological Surgeries—Lessons Learned From an Austrian University Hospital
title_short Impact of COVID-19 Related Lockdown on the Frequency of Acute and Oncological Surgeries—Lessons Learned From an Austrian University Hospital
title_sort impact of covid-19 related lockdown on the frequency of acute and oncological surgeries—lessons learned from an austrian university hospital
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8365164/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34409000
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.625582
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