Have the Diagnoses of Patients Transported by Ambulances Changed in the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

INTRODUCTION

Since December 2019, emergency services and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) systems have been at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic world-wide.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to examine the reasons and the necessity of transportation to the emergency department (ED) by ambulance and the outcomes of these cases with the admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic period and during the same period in 2019.

METHODS

A retrospective descriptive study was conducted in which patients transported to the ED by ambulance in April 2019 and April 2020 were compared. The primary outcomes were the changes in the number and diagnoses of patients who were transferred to the ED by ambulance during the COVID-19 period. The secondary outcome was the need for patients to be transferred to the hospital by ambulance.

RESULTS

A total of 4,466 patients were included in the study. During the COVID-19 period, there was a 41.6% decrease in ED visits and a 31.5% decrease in ambulance calls. The number of critically ill patients transported by ambulance (with diagnoses such as decompensated heart failure [P <.001], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD] attack (P = .001), renal failure [acute-chronic; P = .008], angina pectoris [P <.001], and syncope [P <.001]) decreased statistically significantly in 2020. Despite this decrease in critical patient calls, non-emergency patient calls continued and 52.2% of the patients transported by ambulance in 2020 were discharged from the ED.

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting EMS use is important for evaluating the current state of emergency health care and planning to manage possible future outbreaks.