Summary
| What is known? |
| During the acceleration phase of the COVID-19 pandemic the numbers of patients presenting to emergency departments fell by half, and medical assessment units noted large reductions in non-COVID patients referred as medical emergencies. Hitherto, it has been assumed these reductions reflect altered referral behaviour and reluctance to seek medical help. |
| What is the question? |
| We hypothesised that changes in population behaviour and lifestyle might have led to genuine decreases in incidence and severity of some acute medical illnesses. Putative mechanisms include changes in work-life balance including more exercise, and reductions in both atmospheric pollution and non-COVID infection from social distancing. |
| What we found? |
| Despite striking reductions in admissions with cardiological, nonmalignant non-pneumonic respiratory illness and non-COVID non-pneumonic infection, local deaths from these causes proved only slightly higher than in 2017 and were actually lower among those aged less than 65 years. Deaths from causes other than COVID-19 in the whole of Wales were only 1% higher than in 2019. |
| What are the implications for practice now? |
| The results suggest that reductions in hospitalisations with some non-COVID acute medical illnesses may indeed reflect reduced incidence and severity of non-COVID infections and exacerbations of both cardiac and respiratory disease during lockdown. There is abundant literature to support our hypothesis that changes in population behaviour and lifestyle brought about unforeseen health benefits. |