Background: This study aimed to determine the tendency of older adults to present to the emergency department with pain complaints during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the prepandemic period.
Methods: A cross-sectional, retrospective study design was used. Data were collected from the electronic medical records of older people who presented to emergency departments with pain before (March 2019-March 2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020-July 2021). We identified 10 pain diagnosis groups using ICD-10 codes. Patient data were grouped and cleaned using SQL scripts on the Oracle database.
Results: It was determined that 13.3% of 405,404 older people had presented to the emergency department with pain between March 2019 and July 2021. There was a 14.2% decrease in such admissions during the pandemic period. In the study, an increase was observed in the rates of older adults presenting to the emergency department with myalgia and joint pain. In contrast, the rates of those presenting with low back and neck pain, headache, eye pain, dysuria, and acute pain decreased during the pandemic. In the regression analysis, predictors for older adults' presentation to the emergency department with pain included age over 85 years (OR: 1.403), female gender (OR: 1.053), and myalgia (OR: 2.471).
Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, our study revealed fewer presentations to the emergency department for pain-related complaints. To prevent severe health problems from delayed care, we recommend expanding telemedicine, remote pain management, and home-based care. Further research is needed to examine the long-term effects of increased myalgia and joint pain.
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