BMJ public health
Impact of COVID-19 restrictions on emergency bellwether procedures in South and Southeast Asia
By Chan SL, Guan JS, Lam SSW and 22 others.
Abstract
Introduction
Around the time COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, various restrictions and measures were implemented at all levels to limit disease spread and preserve healthcare capacity. Data are lacking in many low- and middle-income countries on how these measures impact healthcare utilisation and outcomes. This study aims to determine the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on volumes of the three emergency bellwether procedures in South and Southeast Asia.
Methods
This was an interrupted time series study of patients who underwent any of the three emergency bellwether procedures (caesarean section, laparotomy and open fracture fixation) from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2021 at one of eight institutions in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Vietnam. We compared the weekly volumes, baseline characteristics and outcomes of each procedure across different time periods in each institution defined by different levels of COVID-19 restrictions using selected indicators from a city-level and hospital-level response index.