ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on surgical care in the Russian Federation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of surgical care in state medical organizations of the Russian Federation in 2020 was conducted in comparison with 2019. The electronic database of the annual reports of the Chief surgeon of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation was used, which includes data from 3.232 surgical departments and 413 outpatient clinics in all regions of the country. The main working hypothesis of the study: during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of hospitalizations to general surgical departments decreases, but the hospital and postoperative mortality for any reason increases both in emergency and elective surgery. RESULTS: During the pandemic, the number of hospitalizations of patients with surgical diseases decreased by 21.0%. At the same time, there was a significant increase in mortality among the entire population of patients in surgical hospitals. Surgical activity decreased, but the share of minimally invasive operations increased and there was no predicted increase in the share of late treatment in emergency surgery. The percentage of planned operations decreased by 40.8%, and the increase of postoperative mortality was registered at the same time. CONCLUSION: The presented data may be valuable for surgical care managers in emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The long-term negative consequences of the pandemic for surgical practice are still difficult to evaluate.
