Impact of state of emergency for coronavirus disease 2019 on hospital visits and disease exacerbation: the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Studies on the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on people's routine medical care are limited, and understanding the factors associated with medical care avoidance can inform us about the ongoing pandemic. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess the impact of Japan's state of emergency and stay-at-home policy for COVID-19 on hospital visits and disease exacerbation; we also identified related factors. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used data from the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey (JACSIS), which included randomly sampled research agency panellists in Japan. Among the 28,000 participants, we included 7,747 respondents who reported having any disease. We described baseline characteristics and avoidance-related hospital visit outcomes. We used multivariable logistic regression analyses to assess the association between chronic diseases and outcomes of hospital visit avoidance. RESULTS: Among 7,747 participants, 17.7% of patients with chronic diseases avoided hospital visits, 2.1% of patients postponed hospitalization or surgery, 4.9% of patients ran out of drug, and 5.3% of patients experienced disease exacerbation during the COVID-19 pandemic in April and May 2020. Exacerbations occurred mostly in participants with mental diseases, chronic pain and headache, and diabetes (OR 3.33 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.51-4.41], 2.83 [95% CI 2.19-3.66], and 1.53 [95% CI 1.10-2.13], respectively). Patients with cardiovascular disease or cancer did not experience exacerbation [OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.31-0.97), 0.79 (95% CI 0.43-1.45)]. CONCLUSIONS: The rates of hospital visit avoidance and exacerbation varied among patients with different diseases under the COVID-19 stay-at-home policy in April and May 2020, and disease-specific preparedness may be necessary for the pandemic.

There are few studies available on the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on people's routine medical care or hospital visits. It is important to understand the factors associated with hospital avoidance in order to be informed about this pandemic. Therefore, we assessed how the declaration of a state of emergency and a stay-at-home order in Japan affected hospital visits and the worsening of diseases; we also identified some risk factors involved. We included 7,747 participants of the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey, who reported having conditions, such as mental diseases, chronic pain and headache, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. We evaluated the association between chronic diseases and outcomes of hospital visits avoidance, and our findings showed that exacerbations occurred mostly in participants with mental diseases, chronic pain and headache, and diabetes. Though our study only focussed on hospital/clinic visits and did not consider acute health care, including mortality, the rates of hospital visits avoidance and exacerbation varied among patients with different diseases under the COVID-19 stay-at-home policy. It is particularly important to follow up patients with mental diseases during the pandemic, and disease-specific planning is necessary.