Abstract
Background: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many reported cases showing the consequences—or the collateral damages—of COVID-19 on patients with non-COVID-related diseases. This study aimed to compare the clinical manifestations and treatment results of non-COVID-related pneumothorax patients before and during the pandemic. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed non-COVID-related pneumothorax patients who visited our hospital before the onset of the pandemic and during the pandemic. The primary outcome was the difference in the amount of pneumothorax between the two periods, and the secondary outcome was the difference in the treatment results between them. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to find risk factors related to massive pneumothorax. Results: There were 122 and 88 patients in the pre-pandemic and pandemic groups, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to the preoperative demographic variables. However, the median amount of pneumothorax was significantly higher in the pandemic group (pre-pandemic: 34.75% [interquartile range (IQR) 18.30–62.95] vs. pandemic: 53.55% [IQR 33.58–88.80], p < 0.0001) and massive pneumothorax were more frequent in the pandemic group (52.3% vs. 30.3%, p = 0.002). Furthermore, more patients experienced re-expansion pulmonary edema after treatments during the pandemic (p = 0.0366). In multivariable analysis, the pandemic (OR: 2.70 [95% CI 1.49–4.90], p = 0.0011) was related to the occurrence of massive pneumothorax. Conclusion: During the pandemic, patients presented with a larger size of pneumothorax and had more re-expansion pulmonary edema, even in a country that handled the COVID-19 pandemic relatively well.
Highlights
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many reported cases showing the consequences—or the collateral damages—of COVID-19 on patients with nonCOVID-related diseases
In this study, based on anecdotal reports of a decrease in pneumothorax patients, we investigated the collateral impact of the pandemic on non-COVID-19 related pneumothorax patients
In terms of pneumothorax history, the location of the lesion was not statistically different, and the primary diagnosis was comparable between the two groups; half of the cases were primary spontaneous pneumothorax
Summary
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many reported cases showing the consequences—or the collateral damages—of COVID-19 on patients with nonCOVID-related diseases. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed non-COVID-related pneumothorax patients who visited our hospital before the onset of the pandemic and during the pandemic. Hospitals reached their capacity limits due to surges in COVID-19 cases, significantly impacting non-COVID-19 patients. Perhaps with greater influence, fear of COVID-19 infection among patients has played a key role in the decrease of non-COVID-19-related hospital visits and admissions. These additional impacts of the pandemic, which will have detrimental effects on the long-term prognosis of patients, are referred to as the “collateral damage of COVID-19”, at least within the field of medicine [3]. The collateral impact of COVID-19 would have a great influence on patients with chronic medical conditions, especially cancer patients
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