Hospitalizations for emergency-sensitive conditions in Germany during the Covid-19 pandemic Insights from the German-wide Helios hospital network

Background

While there are numerous reports that describe emergency care during the early Covid-19 pandemic, there is scarcity of data for later stages. This study analyzes hospitalization rates for 37 emergency-sensitive conditions in the largest German-wide hospital network during different pandemic phases.

Methods

Using claims data of 80 hospitals, consecutive cases between January 1 and November 17, 2020 were analyzed and compared to a corresponding period in 2019. Incidence-rate ratios (IRR) comparing the both periods were calculated using Poisson regression to model the number of hospitalizations per day.

Results

There was a hospitalization deficit between March 12 and June 13, 2020 (coinciding with the 1^st pandemic wave) with 32,807 hospitalizations as opposed to 39,379 in 2019 (IRR 0.83, 95% CI 0.82 – 0.85, P<0.01). During the following period (June 14 to November 17, 2020, including the start of 2^nd wave), hospitalizations were reduced from 63,799 in 2019 to 59,910 in 2020, but this reduction was not that pronounced (IRR 0.94, 95% CI 0.93 – 0.95, P<0.01). There was an increase in hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction, aortic aneurism/dissection and pulmonary embolism after the 1^st wave during which hospitalizations had been reduced for those conditions. In contrast, hospitalizations for sepsis, pneumonia, obstructive pulmonary disease, and intracranial injuries were reduced during the entire pandemic.

Conclusions

There was an overall reduction of hospitalizations for emergency-sensitive conditions in Germany during the Covid-19 pandemic with heterogeneous effects on different disease categories. The increase of hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction, aortic aneurism/dissection and pulmonary embolism is an alarming signal that requires attention and further studies.

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