RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 How COVID-19 has changed the unselected medical take: an observational study
JF Clinical Medicine
JO Clin Med
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP e229
OP e233
DO 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0483
VO 20
IS 6
A1 Kai Man Alexander Ho
A1 Ananthi Anandhakrishnan
A1 Arun Mahay
A1 Yiwen Soo
A1 Laurence B Lovat
A1 Andrew P Rochford
YR 2020
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/20/6/e229.abstract
AB Introduction COVID-19 has had a profound effect on the NHS. Little information has been published as to how the unselected medical take has been affected.Methods We retrospectively reviewed patients who were referred to general medicine during March 2020. We compared clinical outcomes of patients with and without COVID-19.Results 814 patients were included, comprising 777 unique patients. On average, 26 patients were admitted per day. 38% of admitted patients were suspected of COVID-19, with greater numbers of COVID-19 patients in the second half compared to the first half of the month (p<0.001). Logistic regression analyses showed suspected COVID-19 was an independent predictor for inpatient mortality (odds ratio [OR] = 6.09, p<0.001) and 30-day mortality (OR = 4.66, p<0.001).Conclusions COVID-19 patients had worse clinical outcomes and increased healthcare use compared to non-COVID-19 patients. Our study highlights some of the challenges in healthcare provision faced during this pandemic.