Abstract
INTRODUCTION: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals reported decreased admissions for acute surgical diagnoses, but scant data was available to quantify the decrease and its consequences. The objective of this study was to examine the incidence of acute care surgery encounters before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was performed at a single, urban, United States safety-net hospital. Emergency room encounters, admissions, non-elective surgical procedures, patient acuity, and surgical complications were compared before and after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary outcome of the study was the incidence rate (IR) and incidence rate ratios (IRR) for surgical admissions, laparoscopic appendectomy, and urgent laparoscopic cholecystectomy. RESULTS: During the COVID-19 (exposure) time period, the number of nonelective procedures was 143 (IR 4.76) which was significantly lower than the control periods (n = 431, IR 7.2), P < 0.001. During the COVID-19 exposure period, there were significantly fewer urgent cholecystectomies performed (1.37 per day versus 2.80-2.93 per day, P < 0.001). There was a trend toward fewer appendectomies performed, but not significant. There was little difference in patient acuity between the exposure and control periods. A higher proportion of patients that underwent urgent cholecystectomy during the COVID time period had been seen in the ED in the prior 30 d (22% versus 5.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Surgical volume significantly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Management of acute cholecystitis may require re-evaluation as nonsurgical management appears to increase repeat presentations.