During the first year of the pandemic, there were drops in emergency department use among individuals with sickle cell disease both by the number of visits and the number of people visiting, according to a study recently published in BMC Emergency Medicine.
Using population-based surveillance data from the Sickle Cell Data Collection Programs in California, Georgia, Michigan, and Tennessee, the researchers analyzed trends in monthly emergency department use from January 2019 to December 2020. Analysis included
4,524 individuals with sickle cell disease living in Georgia, 2,176 in California, 2,168 in Michigan, and 1,454 in Tennessee.
Overall, there was a decline in emergency department use during the onset of the pandemic, with the largest decline seen in children under age 10. There was a sharp drop in emergency department use in April 2020, decreasing by 26% in California, 29% in Georgia, 37% in Tennessee, and 38% in Michigan.
By December 2020, use had increased, but still had not fully returned to pre-COVID levels. For example, in Georgia, December 2020 use remained 12% lower than February 2020.
Across states, the greatest decrease in total visit volume was seen among infants and young children ages 0 to 9 years. However, in California and Georgia, individuals aged 60 years and older experienced a decrease in total visit volume by nearly 40% during the pandemic.
“This study confirms and extends the existing literature related to the impact of the COVID-19 emergency on health care utilization patterns in a unique population with increased health care needs,” says lead author Brandon Attell, coprincipal investigator of the Georgia Sickle Cell Data Collection Program, housed at the Georgia Health Policy Center. “In many states, new Medicaid policies were implemented during the pandemic to minimize impacts to health care access, including expansion of Medicaid telehealth policies, which may have contributed to the decrease in emergency department visits early in the pandemic.”
Other Georgia Health Policy Center authors include Mei Zhou and Angie Snyder.
Read the full study here.