Comparison of the prehospital altered respiratory parameters over the first two COVID-19 periods in Brussels: a retrospective cohort study

ABSTRACT

This retrospective cohort study analyses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prehospital pathology in 1 emergency response unit of Brussels. Three months of prehospital data with in total 1,030 interventions were analysed 1 month in the first and second COVID-19 outbreak (April and November 2020 respectively) and 1 in the intermediate period (June 2020). The subtracted data contained altered respiratory signs as primary outcome parameter. Secondary outcome parameters were mean age, time from call to arrival of the intervention team, oxygen administration, medication administration, artificial ventilation and prehospital death. Statistical analyses are performed using SPSS, the cross table, the Chi-squared test and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Altered respiratory signs appeared in 31.9, 24.6 and 32.9% of the cases in April, June and November respectively (p-value 0.039). Mean age was 59, 57 and 60 years (null hypothesis retained). Time from call to arrival of the intervention team was 11 minutes in all 3 periods (null hypothesis retained). Oxygen was administrated in 31.4, 27.4 and 32.6% of the cases (p-value 0.315). Medication was given in 41.1, 39.7 and 41.2% (p-value 0.908). Artificial ventilation was necessary in 2.8, 5.5 and 5.8% of the interventions (p-value 0.115). Prehospital death was declared in 6.1, 4.9 and 6.9% of the cases. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the prevalence of prehospital altered respiratory signs. Furthermore, no significant difference has been observed in the secondary outcome parameters. Copyright © 2022 The authors.