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The impact of COVID‐19 lockdown on admission to gynecological emergency departments: Results from a multicenter Italian study
Author(s) -
Grandi Giovanni,
Del Savio Maria C.,
Caroli Martina,
Capobianco Giampiero,
Dessole Francesco,
Tupponi Giulio,
Petrillo Marco,
Succu Claudia,
Paoletti Anna M.,
Facchinetti Fabio
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1002/ijgo.13289
Subject(s) - medicine , covid-19 , confidence interval , incidence (geometry) , retrospective cohort study , multicenter study , gynecological surgery , emergency medicine , emergency department , gynecology , surgery , physics , disease , virology , psychiatry , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , optics , randomized controlled trial
Objective To evaluate the impact of the COVID‐19 lockdown on admissions to gynecological emergency departments (ED) of three Italian university hospitals with different rates of COVID‐19 incidence. Methods A retrospective study was conducted in the gynecological EDs of Modena (Emilia‐Romagna), Sassari and Cagliari (Sardinia) regarding all admissions to gynecological EDs during November 1 to 30, 2019, and March 11 to April 9, 2020 (lockdown period). Results A total of 691 women (mean age 38.3 ± 14.3 years) who were admitted to the gynecological EDs were included. The relative decrease in women evaluated from March 11 to April 9, 2020, was −56.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 52.2–61.1). Time spent in the ED was also significantly shorter during this period ( P =0.02) in comparison to November 1 to 30, 2019. The most evident decrease was observed for pelvic pain (−68.9% [95% CI 60.3–76.7]; −91 cases). The management of women suggests a more effective use of the ED, with higher rates of hospitalization ( P =0.001) and recourse to emergent surgeries ( P =0.005) and lower rates of discharge to home ( P =0.03). Conclusion The COVID‐19 lockdown greatly reduced the rate of admission to gynecological EDs, but the real emergencies were filtered from the more deferrable ones.