Evaluating the impact of a mass gathering (2018 Commonwealth Games) on emergency department presentations with communicable diseases: A retrospective cohort study

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Qiu, Yunjing Shirley
Crilly, Julia
Zimmerman, Peta-Anne
Ranse, Jamie
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2020
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Abstract

Objective: To identify the impact of a mass gathering event (MGE) on emergency department (ED) patient presentations with communicable diseases and underpinning syndromic indicators (SIs). Methods: This retrospective observational cohort study was undertaken in one large public teaching hospital ED in Queensland, Australia. Routinely collected ED data for patient presentations with an ICD-10 diagnosis corresponding to a communicable disease were used to compare demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, and outcomes before (March 23 to April 3), during (April 4 to April 15), and after (April 16 to April 27) the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Results: Over the study period, there were 10 595 patient presentations to the ED; 14.2% (n = 1503) were diagnosed with a communicable disease. The median age of those with a communicable disease was 8 years, 50.5% (n = 759) were female, and 24.8% (n = 373) arrived by ambulance. The most common communicable disease profile was respiratory in nature (51.4%, n = 772). The most common SI was altered breathing (24.0%, n = 185). ED length of stay (LOS) increased over the study period (pre: 160 min; during: 163 min; post: 180 min, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The 2018 Commonwealth Games had an impact on ED presentations with communicable diseases, in terms of LOS. A longer LOS and higher percentage of patients with a LOS of more than 4 hrs in the ED were noted following the MGE period. This outcome indicates a potential need to continue with up-scaled services. Future research is required to understand the broader impact on other EDs in the area, and longitudinal patient follow-up is needed to determine the potential spread of communicable diseases.

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International Journal of Infectious Diseases

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93

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© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncnd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited.

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Microbiology

Medical microbiology

Health services and systems

Public health

Clinical sciences

Epidemiology

Science & Technology

Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Infectious Diseases

Mass gathering

Emergency Department

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Qiu, YS; Crilly, J; Zimmerman, P-A; Ranse, J, Evaluating the impact of a mass gathering (2018 Commonwealth Games) on emergency department presentations with communicable diseases: A retrospective cohort study, International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2020, 93, pp. 305-310

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