Changes in Outpatient Visits to the Family Medicine Centre at a Medium-Sized Urban Hospital during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Cohort Study of the Patient Characteristics and Reason for Encounter
10.14442/generalist.45.2
- VernacularTitle:COVID-19流行による都市部中規模病院の家庭医療初診外来の変化：患者数や受診理由に関する後ろ向きコホート研究
- Author:
Minami GOSHIMA
;
Mikio WADA
;
Kazuki MATSUSHIMA
;
Tatsuro OAKU
;
Kosuke NAKAGAWA
;
Keito KITAGAWA
;
Sae KIMURA
;
Nobuyuki KANAI
- Keywords:
COVID-19;
International Classification of Primary Care;
family medicine;
reason for encounter
- From:An Official Journal of the Japan Primary Care Association
2022;45(1):2-9
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
-
Abstract:
Introduction: This study assessed the changes in outpatient visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Subjects were patients who visited the outpatient clinic of the Family Medicine Centre at Kanai Hospital between April and May in 2019 and 2020. We compared the number of outpatients, their age, and their reasons for encounter (RFEs) classified according to the International Classification of Primary Care, 2nd Edition between 2019 and 2020.Results: A total of 1159 patients in 2019 and 859 patients in 2020 were evaluated. There were 553 male patients in 2019 and 452 in 2020 (P =0.029). The mean age of the patients was 48.4 years in 2019 and 52.4 years in 2020 (P =0.010). The mean number of patients per day was 25.2 in 2019 and 17.9 in 2020 (P < 0.001), with a significant reduction in patients aged 0-4 years in 2020 relative to 2019 (3.64 in 2019 vs.1.02 in 2020; P < 0.001). On evaluation of RFEs classified by organic system, the proportion of respiratory RFEs decreased from 45.3% in 2019 to 31.6% in 2020 (P =0.026), and gastrointestinal RFEs decreased from 17.9% to 5.3% (P =0.003) among children. Among adults, the proportion of respiratory RFEs decreased from 22.6% in 2019 to 15.6% in 2020 (P < 0.001) and skin RFEs decreased from 20.1% in 2019 to 15.3% in 2020 (P =0.011).Conclusion: The number of outpatients decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were differences in the proportion of RFEs between the two periods.
