Previous studies in Canada, the United States, and Japan have reported that the number of hospitalizations for patients with ACSCs decreased during the pandemic.However, it was not clear whether this was a good thing for the patient (whether it was healthy) or an indication that a patient who should have been hospitalized could not. It says.

　In this study, we investigated changes in the in-hospital mortality rate due to ACSCs before and after the declaration of a state of emergency due to COVID-19 in Japan. , and an 2019% increase in in-hospital mortality within 71 hours of patient arrival.The increase in in-hospital mortality is explained by an increase in in-hospital deaths and a decrease in hospital admissions.

　This result suggests that in Japan during the pandemic, acutely ill patients with ACSCs, who should have been prevented from being hospitalized by appropriate outpatient care, were not able to access appropriate outpatient and inpatient care.During the pandemic, there were reports of patients refraining from visiting hospitals, restrictions on outpatient visits by medical institutions, and prolonged waiting times for hospitalization and elective surgery. This is a supporting result.In particular, among ACSCs, the effect was observed in patients with acute illnesses that cause symptoms similar to COVID-19, such as fever. This indicates the need for measures to ensure access to medical care.

Paper information:[JAMA Network Open] In-Hospital Deaths From Ambulatory Care-Sensitive Conditions Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan