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.