Impact of COVID-19 on chest CT scan frequency in a general hospital / 中国辐射卫生

ABSTRACT

@#<b>Objective</b> To explore the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the frequency of chest CT scan. <b>Methods</b> A retrospective study was conducted to extract information on the number of outpatient, emergency, and inpatient visits and patients who had chest CT imaging examination from January 1 to December 31, 2020 and in the same period in 2019 through the hospital’s medical data platform for analysis, and the chi-square test was used to analyze whether the difference in the proportion of patients who had chest CT imaging examination between 2019 and 2020 was statistically significant. <b>Results</b> The proportion of outpatients and emergency patients with chest CT examination was significantly higher in 2020 than in 2019 (2.48% <i>vs</i> 1.47%, <i>χ</i>² = 581.7, <i>P</i> < 0.000). The proportion of inpatients who underwent chest CT examination was significantly higher in 2020 than in 2019 (35.47% <i>vs</i> 28.01%, <i>χ</i>² = 182.0, <i>P</i> < 0.000). <b>Conclusion</b> Under the COVID-19 epidemic, the proportion of chest CT examination in this hospital in 2020 shows a significant upward trend compared with the same period in 2019, which will increase the collective dose due to medical exposure, and the hospital should pay attention to the determination of the legitimacy of chest CT scan.