270: IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN ICU AND HOSPITAL RESOURCE UTILIZATION: A CANCER CENTER EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Introduction: A recent global study including 81 reports reported a significant drop in healthcare utilization mostly outpatient visits, admissions, diagnostics, therapeutics, and emergency services after the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, these reports seldomly address intensive care utilization or mortality. We hypothesized that the pandemic significantly affected the ICU and hospital utilization rates in a comprehensive cancer center located in Houston, Texas. Methods: We conducted an observational study comparing two periods, pre-pandemic (period-A, from 3/01/2019 to 2/28/2020) and first year of the pandemic (period-B, from 3/01/2020 to 2/28/2021). We reviewed the hospital metrics in our electronic health record (EHR). Results: During the two study periods we found a 22% decrease in the overall number of hospital admissions from 46,725 admissions (period-A) to 36,615 admissions (period-B). Emergency service visits (period-A 28,357 versus period-B 21,229) dropped by 25% in period-B. There was a 15% drop in the absolute number of intensive care unit (ICU) non-COVID admissions from 2,511 (period-A) to 2,147 (ICU admission rate period-B), as well as a 15% drop in surgeries and invasive interventions from 48,687 (period-A) to 41,650 interventions (period-B). However, the ICU admission rate increased from 5.4% (period-A) to 5.9% (period-B) (p=0.001). ICU mean length-of-stay (LOS) (4.14 vs 3.82, p=0.001) and mean intubation days (5.8 vs 4.7, p=0.001) were higher in period-A. The mean hospital LOS was 8 days, the same in both periods. ICU mortality was 14.9% during period-A and 14.2% in period-B (p=0.5). Hospital mortality was 2.6% in both periods. Conclusions: Our results confirmed that overall hospital utilization rates decreased during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite the lower numbers of patients the proportion of ICU admissions increased, the LOS and ventilator days decreased, and mortality remained the same. These findings highlight the complexity of critical care dynamics during the pandemic.