Abstract
BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on the utilization of health care services, including Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Social distancing measures taken to prevent the spread of the disease have greatly affected the functioning of societies and reduced or halted many activities with a risk of injury. The aim of this study was to report the effects of lockdown measures on trauma-related EMS calls in the Finnish capital area.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of all EMS calls in the Helsinki University Hospital (HUH) catchment area between 1 January and 31 July 2020. Calls were identified from the HUH EMS database. Calls were grouped into pre-lockdown, lockdown, and post-lockdown periods according to the restrictions set by the Finnish government and compared to the mean number of calls for the corresponding periods in 2018 and 2019. Statistical comparisons were performed using Mann-Whitney U-test for weekly numbers and percentages.ResultsDuring the study period there was a total of 70,705 EMS calls, of which 14,998 (21.2%) were related to trauma; 67,973 patients (median age 61.6 years; IQR 35.3–78.6) were met by EMS. There was no significant change in the weekly number of total or trauma-related EMS calls during the pre-lockdown period. During the lockdown period, the number of weekly total EMS calls was reduced by 12.2% (p = 0.001) and the number of trauma-related calls was reduced by 23.3% (p = 0.004). The weekly number of injured patients met by EMS while intoxicated with alcohol was reduced by 41.8% (p = 0.002). During the post-lockdown period, the number of total and trauma-related calls and the number of injured patients intoxicated by alcohol returned to previous years’ levels.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures reduced the number of trauma-related EMS calls. Lockdown measures had an especially significant effect on the number of injured patients intoxicated by alcohol met by the EMS.Trial registrationNot applicable.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on the utilization of health care services, including Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
The total number of EMS calls during the study period was 70,705, of which 14,998 (21.2%) were related to trauma
A total of 67,973 patients were met by the EMS during the study period; of these, 48.1% were male
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on the utilization of health care services, including Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The aim of this study was to report the effects of lockdown measures on trauma-related EMS calls in the Finnish capital area. The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic had profound effects on societies and the utilization of health care and EMS worldwide. Trauma-related emergency department (ED) visits have decreased along with trauma surgery activity [5,6,7,8]. These changes have been attributed to the temporary reduction in road traffic, sports, and work-related activities during lockdown. The resulting lockdown caused widespread and drastic changes in the functions of Finnish society and affected work, education, healthcare, and social life, among others [9]
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