IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON SURGICAL PROCEDURES IN BRAZIL: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected medical practice, and conducts o minimize the overload of healthcare services were necessary. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of the pandemic in the practice of surgical procedures in Brazil. This is a descriptive study with data about hospitalizations for surgical procedures in Brazil from 2016 to 2020, collected from the Department of Informatics of Brazil’s Unified Health System (DATASUS). Primary analysis describes the variations in the number of elective, urgent and other types of surgical procedures performed during this period, by comparing the mean number of hospitalizations from 2016 to 2019 with the absolute number from 2020. Secondary analysis describe the variations in hospitalizations for surgical procedures during this period in each of Brazil’s geographical regions, and variations in different surgical procedure subgroups. There was a decrease of 14.88% [95% CI: 14,82-14,93] in hospitalizations for surgical procedures in 2020, when comparing to the mean between 2016-2019. Decrease rates were 34.82% [95% CI: 34,73-34,90] for elective procedures and 1.11% [95% CI: 1.07-1.13] for urgent procedures. Surgical procedure subgroups with highest decrease rates were endocrine gland surgery, breast surgery, oral-maxillofacial surgery and surgery of upper airways, face, head and neck. The overload of healthcare facilities demanded reductions in non-urgent activities to prevent services’ collapse. Further studies are needed to evaluate the social and clinical impact of such reductions and support the development of precise criteria defining which procedures should be prioritized.