Increasing Rate of Hospitalization For Severe Peptic Ulcer After The Pandemic: Digestive Emergency Data From Two Regional Hospitals. (preprint)

ABSTRACT

With the introduction of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine, the pandemic has abated. However, the virus has not been completely contained, and some of the potential effects of the outbreak have not been thoroughly studied. We collected data from two regional emergency centers from May to November 2015-2019, before the outbreak, and from May to November 2020, after the outbreak. We evaluated the incidence of each major type of digestive disease before and after the pandemic in adults at two hospitals, which experienced COVID-19 outbreaks with varying severity. A total of 11,336 patients were enrolled in the study (PUTIAN, n=5503, UNION, n= 5891). From 2015 to 2019, the numbers of patients at the two hospitals increased steadily, but in 2020, the number of patients at UNION declined. The constituent ratios of diseases in each year in the two hospitals differed. The number of patients with peptic ulcer in 2020 was significantly different from that in each year from 2015 to 2019 (PUTIAN 2015-2020, 16.6%, 20.0%, 16.6%, 18.3%, 21.1%, 37.1%; UNION 2015-2020, 31.5%, 34.6%, 31.6%, 31.3%, 31.7%, 43.7%, respectively). The rates of peptic ulcer increased dramatically in both hospitals in 2020. An increase in the incidence of severe peptic ulcer was observed after the pandemic compared to the same period in previous nonpandemic years. Therefore, these factors should be considered in the formulation of public health strategies and the allocation of medical resources in the postepidemic era.