Trends in obstetric emergency department attendance the first months of the coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

Many medical disciplines reported a decline in patient attendance during the coronavirus pandemic. Our paper examines the effects that the coronavirus pandemic had on obstetric Emergency Department (ED) attendances in a tertiary maternity centre in the Republic of Ireland. A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was performed on administrative data regarding the number of obstetric patients attending the ED from January to July in 2019 and 2020. These numbers were compared to the number of reported coronavirus cases in Ireland as released in official government publications. A paired sample t-test was carried out to see if there was a significant difference in attendance in the obstetric ED in 2020 compared to in 2019. When COVID-19 cases peaked at 17,377 in April 2020, ED attendance showed their largest decline of 27%. The cumulative decline in ED attendances from January to July in 2019 to 2020 was 13%. However, this decline was not found to be statistically significant. In contrast to other disciplines, the COVID-19 pandemic did not cause a decrease in obstetric ED attendance.