Medium-term impacts of the waves of the COVID-19 epidemic on treatments for non-COVID-19 patients in intensive care units: A retrospective cohort study in Japan

BACKGROUND: Maintaining critical care for non-Coronavirus-disease-2019 (non-COVID-19) patients is a key pillar of tackling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to reveal the medium-term impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic on case volumes and quality of intensive care for critically ill non-COVID-19 patients. METHODS: Administrative data were used to investigate the trends in case volumes of admissions to intensive care units (ICUs) compared with the previous years. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) of non-COVID-19 ICU patients were calculated in each wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in Japan. RESULTS: The ratios of new ICU admissions of non-COVID-19 patients to those in the corresponding months before the epidemic: 21% in May 2020, 8% in August 2020, 9% in February 2021, and 14% in May 2021, approximately concurrent with the peaks in COVID-19 infections. The decrease was greatest for new ICU admissions of non-COVID patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) on the first day of ICU admission: 26%, 15%, 19%, and 19% in the first, second, third, and fourth waves, respectively. No statistically significant change in SMR was observed in any wave of the epidemic; SMRs were 0.990 (95% uncertainty interval (UI), 0.962–1.019), 0.979 (95% UI, 0.953–1.006), 0.996 (95% UI, 0.980–1.013), and 0.989 (95% UI, 0.964–1.014), in the first, second, third, and fourth waves of the epidemic, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the previous years, the number of non-COVID-19 ICU patients continuously decreased over the medium term during the COVID-19 epidemic. The decrease in case volumes was larger in non-COVID-19 ICU patients initially receiving IMV than those undergoing other initial treatments. The standardized in-hospital mortality of non-COVID-19 ICU patients did not change in any waves of the epidemic.