3.3 Asthma
Given non-significant variations within the selected reference period 2015-2019 by comparing, month by month, every year to each other, daily PED referrals for asthma in 2020 were compared to the previous 5 years grouped together. Table 1 shows the average daily acute asthma referrals to our PED on a monthly basis.
During lockdown-1, the total acute asthma referrals decreased abruptly by 85% compared to the same period in the previous 5 years (total referrals were 16, compared to a mean of 108 ± 11 in the years 2015-2019, P<0.01 ). In the following months (from May 4th to the end of July) asthma-related PED referrals showed a similar decrease by 80% (20 vs 98 ± 15,P<0.01 ), followed by a reduction by 44%, and 51% in concomitance with the peak usually reported at the end of summer and early autumn, and later on during lockdown-2, respectively.
As compared to the 2015-2019 reference years, in 2020 an overall 40% decrease of asthma-related PED referrals was observed. Remarkably, the decrease in overall asthma referrals was associated with the concomitant reduction in high-priority codes, being more evident during lockdown-1 (Figure 4).
Outcomes of asthma-related PED referrals are displayed in Figure 5. Hospital admissions in 2020 were higher in the pre-pandemic period and remarkably dropped during lockdown-1 and the following months; none was registered in April, May, June and August. A reduction in the use of SSOU was observed during the pandemic, except for August, presenting an increase in the total referrals and SSOU utilization.