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Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed existing patterns of non-COVID-19 health care utilisation? A retrospective analysis of 6 regions in Europe
Sarah Aldridge,
Rhiannon Owen 
,
Ronan Lyons ,
Andrea E. Schmidt ,
Martin Thißen ,
Enrique Bernal-Delgado ,
Francisco Estupiñán-Romero ,
Javier González-Galindo ,
Lorenz Dolanski-Aghamanoukjan ,
Stefan Mathis-Edenhofer ,
Tamara Buble,
Klea Križ,
Jakov Vuković,
Luigi Palmieri ,
Brigid Unim ,
Iris Meulman
,
Ronan Lyons ,
Andrea E. Schmidt ,
Martin Thißen ,
Enrique Bernal-Delgado ,
Francisco Estupiñán-Romero ,
Javier González-Galindo ,
Lorenz Dolanski-Aghamanoukjan ,
Stefan Mathis-Edenhofer ,
Tamara Buble,
Klea Križ,
Jakov Vuković,
Luigi Palmieri ,
Brigid Unim ,
Iris Meulman
European Journal of Public Health (EJPH)
Swansea University Authors:
Sarah Aldridge, Rhiannon Owen , Ronan Lyons
Abstract
Background: Resilience of national health systems in Europe remains a major concern in times of multiple crises and as more evidence is emerging relating to the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care utilisation (HCU), resulting from de-prioritisation of regular, non-pandemic healt...
| Published in: | European Journal of Public Health (EJPH) |
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| Published: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa65539 |
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| Abstract: |
Background: Resilience of national health systems in Europe remains a major concern in times of multiple crises and as more evidence is emerging relating to the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care utilisation (HCU), resulting from de-prioritisation of regular, non-pandemic healthcare services. Most extant studies focus on regional, disease specific or early pandemic HCU creating difficulties in comparing across multiple countries. We provide a comparatively broad definition of HCU across multiple countries, with potential to expand across regions and timeframes.Methods: Using a cross-country federated research infrastructure (FRI), we examined HCU for acute cardiovascular events, elective surgeries and serious trauma. Aggregated data was used in forecast modelling to identify changes from predicted European age standardised counts via fitted regressions (2017-2019), compared against post-pandemic data.Results: We found that elective surgeries were most affected, universally falling below predicted levels in 2020. For cardiovascular HCU, we found lower than expected cases in every region for heart attacks and displayed large sex differences. Serious trauma was the least impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.Conclusion: The strength of this study comes from the use of the European Population Health Information Research Infrastructure’s (PHIRI) FRI, allowing for rapid analysis of regional differences to assess indirect impacts of events such as pandemics. There are marked differences in the capacity of services to return to normal in terms of elective surgery; additionally we found considerable differences between men and women which requires further research on potential sex or gender patterns of HCU during crises. |
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| Keywords: |
COVID-19, Health care utilisation, European comparisons, Population health |
| College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
| Funders: |
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101018317 – Population Health Information Research Infrastructure. |