IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i17p6182-d404119.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact and Consequences of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on a Single University Dermatology Outpatient Clinic in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Rosi Wang

    (Department of Dermatology and Allergy Biederstein, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany
    Both authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Charlotte Helf

    (Department of Dermatology and Allergy Biederstein, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany
    Both authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Linda Tizek

    (Department of Dermatology and Allergy Biederstein, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany)

  • Ruth Neuhauser

    (Department of Dermatology and Allergy Biederstein, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany)

  • Kilian Eyerich

    (Department of Dermatology and Allergy Biederstein, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany
    Division of Dermatology and Venereology, Department of Medicine Solna, and Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
    Unit of Dermatology, Karolinska University Hospital, 171 64 Solna, Sweden)

  • Alexander Zink

    (Department of Dermatology and Allergy Biederstein, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany)

  • Bernadette Eberlein

    (Department of Dermatology and Allergy Biederstein, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany)

  • Tilo Biedermann

    (Department of Dermatology and Allergy Biederstein, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany)

  • Knut Brockow

    (Department of Dermatology and Allergy Biederstein, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany)

  • Alexander Boehner

    (Department of Dermatology and Allergy Biederstein, Faculty of Medicine, Technical University Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany)

Abstract

The pandemic outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects health care systems globally and leads to other challenges besides infection and its direct medical consequences. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) pandemic on the university dermatology outpatient clinic (UDOC) of the Technical University of Munich, Germany. We analyzed datasets from 2015 until 2020 extracted from the hospital information system database and our documented outpatient files regarding patient numbers, gender, age, and diagnoses. In 2020, case numbers of outpatient care declined significantly ( p = 0.021) compared to previous years and was related to the timing of political announcements answering SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Additionally, during calendar week 10 to 15—the peak time of the spread of COVID-19 in Germany—the proportion of patients missing their consultation was significantly higher in 2020 than in 2019 (22.4% vs. 12.4%; p < 0.001). Gender-associated differences regarding absences were not detected, but patients aged 85 years or older were significantly more likely to miss their consultation compared to all other age groups ( p = 0.002). Regarding different disease clusters, patients with chronic inflammatory skin diseases and infectious and malignant diseases were more likely to miss their consultation ( p = 0.006). Noticeably, less patients with malignant diseases, and particularly malignant melanoma, were registered during this pandemic. Our data support the hypothesis that medically constructive prioritization might not be implemented properly by patients themselves. Identifying missed patients and catching up on their medical care apart from COVID-19 will pose an enormous challenge for health care systems globally.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosi Wang & Charlotte Helf & Linda Tizek & Ruth Neuhauser & Kilian Eyerich & Alexander Zink & Bernadette Eberlein & Tilo Biedermann & Knut Brockow & Alexander Boehner, 2020. "The Impact and Consequences of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on a Single University Dermatology Outpatient Clinic in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-10, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:17:p:6182-:d:404119
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6182/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6182/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jelena Jeremić & Branko Suđecki & Kristina Radenović & Jovan Mihaljević & Ivan Radosavljević & Milan Jovanović & Nataša Milić & Vedrana Pavlović & Dimitrije Brašanac & Marko Jović, 2022. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Melanoma Diagnosis: Increased Breslow Thickness in Primary Melanomas—A Single Center Experience," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Hazzaa Aabed & Vlad Bloanca & Zorin Crainiceanu & Felix Bratosin & Cosmin Citu & Mircea Mihai Diaconu & Ovidiu Ciorica & Tiberiu Bratu, 2022. "The Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on Patients with Malignant Melanoma at a Romanian Academic Center: A Four-Year Retrospective Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-14, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:17:p:6182-:d:404119. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.