Health Policy Manag.  2022 Jun;32(2):164-172. 10.4332/KJHPA.2022.32.2.164.

Similarities and Differences in Patients under Aged 18 with Respiratory Disease on Emergency Departments: Before and after COVID-19 Outbreak

• Huh YJ
• Pak YS
• Kim EA
• Oh MR

• KMID: 2534957
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4332/KJHPA.2022.32.2.164

Abstract

Background
The purpose of this study was to the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak on emergency departments (EDs) in patients under the age of 18 years with respiratory disease. Also, we analyzed similarities and differences in patients including revisit before and after the COVID-19 outbreak.
Methods
This study population was respiratory patients under the age of 18 years who visited all 403 EDs in Korea between January 1st, 2019 and December 31st, 2020, using the National Emergency Department Information System Database. The primary outcome was the number of respiratory patients according to age, sex, the type of EDs, season, Korean Triage and Acuity Scale (KTAS) levels, the result of ED, and length of stay. The secondary outcome was the number of revisit respiratory patients within 72 hours. We calculated the risk-adjusted revisit rates according to the KTAS level using a multiple logistic regression model.
Results
The number of ED visits decreased from 274,526 in 2019 to 79,007 in 2020; this number was 71.2% lower than that before COVID-19. In spring 2020, this number was 90.1% lower than during the same period in 2019. For the revisit rate in the study population, the adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) was 1.22 (1.05-1.41) in 2019 and 1.39 (1.07-1.81) in 2020.
Conclusion
Implementing appropriate emergency care policies in severe respiratory patients would have contributed to improving the safety of reducing in revisit rate.

Keyword

COVID-19; Emergency department; Respiratory tract disease; Revisit; Similarity; Difference