Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Musculoskeletal Care in the Emergency Room.

OBJECTIVE
Study the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on emergency room (ER) utilization for musculoskeletal (MSK) complaints.


METHODS
Data from ER encounters in a teaching hospital for years 2019 and 2020 were extracted from an electronic database. The ICD-10-CM code were used to assign the primary diagnosis. Joinpoint regression was applied to time-series to detect changes in daily encounters (all-cause and MSK). Total number and median daily encounters were calculated by year, sex, age groups, and diagnostic codes for each year.


RESULTS
Overlapping intervals within March 2020 showed drops of 8.1 all-cause encounters per day (95% CI: 4.8-11.5), and 1.2 MSK encounters per day (95% CI: 0.8-1.7), resulting in net losses for the year of 33.2 % for all-cause and 35.8% for MSK encounters . Reductions were observed for both sexes and all age groups. MSK codes with largest declines were low back pain, joint pain, and limb pain.


CONCLUSION
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in major reductions in all-cause and MSK encounters in the ER of an academic hospital probably due to governmental restricions and a change in patients behavior. Persistence of the observed reduction suggests that patients requiring ER services delayed seeking care for MSK and other health conditions.