AB034. SOH21AS158. The impact of COVID-19 on emergency surgical presentations in a University Teaching Hospital
COVID Session

AB034. SOH21AS158. The impact of COVID-19 on emergency surgical presentations in a University Teaching Hospital

Ahmed Malik Kamil, Matt Gerard Daevy, Fadi Marzouk, Chris Gerard Collins, Rishbal Sehgal, Amy Fowler, Kevin Corless, Maeve O’Neill

Department of Surgery, Galway University Hospital, Co. Galway, Ireland

Background: The coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to 50–70% reduction in acute non-COVID presentations to emergency departments globally. Aim: To determine the impact of COVID-19 on incidence, severity and outcomes of acute surgical admissions in an Irish model 4 hospital.

Methods: Descriptive data concerning patients presenting with acute appendicitis, diverticulitis and cholecystitis were analysed and compared from March–May 2020 (2020) to March–May 2019 (2019).

Results: Acute surgical admissions decreased in March from 191 (2020) to 55 (2019) (55%), before increasing by 28% in April (2020: 153, 2019: 119). For the acute cholecystitis group, a reduction of 33% was observed (2019: 33, 2020: 22), with increased severity at presentation being reported (P=0.079) and higher 30-day readmission rates (P=0.056). Acute appendicitis presentations decreased by 44% (2019: 78, 2020: 43, P=0.019), with an increase in severity (P<0.001), to be managed conservatively (P<0.001), and post-operative complications (P=0.029) in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

Conclusions: The COVID-19 has potentiated a significant reduction in overall number of acute surgical presentations in our hospital. Patients presenting with acute appendicitis during the pandemic had more severe disease, were more likely to have complications and were significantly more likely to be managed conservatively when compared to historical data.

Keywords: Emergency surgery; coronavirus-19 (COVID-19); surgery; patient outcomes

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

doi: 10.21037/map-21-ab034
Cite this abstract as: Kamil AM, Daevy MG, Marzouk F, Collins CG, Sehgal R, Fowler A, Corless K, O’Neill M. SOH21AS158. The impact of COVID-19 on emergency surgical presentations in a University Teaching Hospital. Mesentery Peritoneum 2021;5:AB034.

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