@article {Allisone171, author = {Miles C Allison and Nicholas A Doyle and Giles Greene and Arif Mahmood and Myer Glickman and Aine K Jones and Paul E Mizen}, title = {Lockdown Britain: Evidence for reduced incidence and severity of some non-COVID acute medical illnesses}, volume = {21}, number = {2}, pages = {e171--e178}, year = {2021}, doi = {10.7861/clinmed.2020-0586}, publisher = {Royal College of Physicians}, abstract = {Large reductions in emergency department attendances and hospitalisations with non-COVID acute medical illness early during the pandemic were attributed to reluctance to seek medical help and higher referral thresholds. Here, we compare acute medical admissions with a comparison cohort from 2017. Deaths in the same geographic area were examined, and Wales-wide deaths during these 4 weeks in 2020 were compared with a seasonally matched period in 2019. There were 528 patients admitted with non-COVID illness in 2020, versus 924 in 2017 (a reduction of 43\%). Deaths from non-COVID causes increased by 10.9\% compared with 2017, over half this rise being from neurological causes including stroke and dementia. While far fewer patients required hospitalisation as medical emergencies, rises in local non-COVID deaths proved small. Wales-wide non-COVID deaths rose by just 1\% compared with 2019. The findings suggest that changes in population behaviour and lifestyle during lockdown brought about unforeseen health benefits.}, issn = {1470-2118}, URL = {https://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/2/e171}, eprint = {https://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/2/e171.full.pdf}, journal = {Clinical Medicine} }