This study was designed to assess the impact of public health policy in Australia in response to the coronavirus disease identified in 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the delivery of neurosurgical services. Being essential services, we postulated that there would not be a decrease in elective and emergency neurosurgical presentations and surgeries.
Methods
This is a prospective, observational, epidemiologic study in strict adherence to the “STROBE” (Strengthening The Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology) guidelines. It is a cross-sectional, multicentric study involving 5 tertiary neurosurgical centers to capture all public neurosurgical admissions in Queensland during the past 3 months (February−April, 2020) of significant public health policy changes to combat COVID-19.
Results
An analysis of the 1298 admissions for the Queensland population of 5.07 million Australians demonstrated a decrease in the number of elective and emergency admissions. The decline in elective admissions, particularly degenerative spine, benign neoplasms, and vascular pathologies, was a direct response of government strategy to curb activity to urgent surgical interventions only. Moreover, a trend toward fewer emergency admissions was also noted, partly explained by less trauma and also a decline in vascular pathologies including subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Conclusions
In comparison with Europe and North America, this study demonstrates the impact of proactive public health measures in Australia that successfully flattened the COVID-19 curve while facilitating ongoing care of acutely unwell neurosurgical patients.
Key words
Australia
COVID-19
Neurosurgery
Public health
Subarachnoid hemorrhage
Abbreviations and Acronyms
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease identified in 2019
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Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that the article content was composed in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.