A comparison of emergency department overall attendances, frequent attenders, and frequent attenders with medically unexplained symptoms between two 122-day periods in 2019 (Control) and 2020 (COVID-19)
| Control | COVID-19 | RR (95%CI), p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ED visits, n | 42,785 | 28,806 | |
| ED visits per 1kpop/yr | 114.4 | 77.0 | |
| Frequent attenders | |||
| Patients, n | 163 | 147 | |
| Patients per 1kpop/yr | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.95 (95%CI 0.90–1.01), p=0.13 |
| ED visits, n | 1185 | 1000 | |
| ED visits per 1kpop/yr | 9.5 | 8.0 | 0.92 (95%CI 0.90–0.94), p<0.0001 |
| Frequent attenders with medically unexplained symptoms | |||
| Patients, n | 44 | 65 | |
| Patients per 1kpop/yr | 0.4 | 0.5 | 1.5 (95%CI 1.1–1.8), p=0.0006 |
| ED visits, n | 149 | 267 | |
| ED visits per 1kpop/yr | 1.2 | 2.1 | 1.8 (95%CI 1.6–2.0), p<0.0001 |
ED = emergency department; RR = relative risk; 95%CI = 95% confidence interval; 1kpop/year = 1,000 population at risk per year incidence