The COVID-19 pandemic caused a rise in healthcare demands leading to significant restructuring of hospital emergency departments worldwide. The aim of the present study is twofold: firstly, to discern any differences in regard to reason for surgical emergency department (SED) attendance and hospital admission during the pandemic and pre-pandemic eras in Greece, and secondly, to assess the impact of the lockdown measures implemented during the pandemic on SED patient attendance. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece (1 March 2020) and up to 15 December 2020, the charts of all adult patients arriving at the SED of the third surgical department of the “Attikon” University Hospital (a tertiary referral center for surgical and COVID-19 cases) were retrospectively reviewed and broken down in four periods reflecting two nationwide lockdown (period A 1/3/2020 to 30/4/2020 and period D 16/10/2020 to 15/12/2020) and two interim (period B 1/5/2020 to 15/6/2020 and period C 15/9/2020 to 30/10/2020) periods. Demographic and clinical data were compared to those obtained from the same time periods of the year 2019. The total number of patients attending the SED decreased by 35.9% during the pandemic (from 2839 total patients in 2019 to 1819 in 2020). During the first lockdown, there was statistically significant reduction of motor vehicle accidents (p=0.04) and torso injuries (p=0.01). Contrarily, the rate of head injuries (p<0.001) and abdominal pain (p=0.04) were significantly increased. The same effect was observed regarding the rate of hospital admissions (p=0.002), although in terms of absolute numbers, admissions remained unchanged. During the second lockdown, there was a reduction in the number of perianal abscess cases (p=0.04) and hernia-related problems (p=0.001). An increase in the rate of fall injuries was also demonstrable (p=0.02). Overall, application of the lockdown led to a significant decrease in minor (p<0.001) and torso (p=0.001) injuries. The burden of the new COVID-19 disease has left a noticeable imprint in the function of emergency departments worldwide. In Greece, SED attendance was significantly reduced during the pandemic, an effect that was even more pronounced during the lockdown implementation; nevertheless, the overall rate of hospital admissions remained the same, denoting that patient care was not altered.

中文翻译：

---

COVID大流行封锁措施对外科紧急情况的影响：从希腊三级医院获得的经验和教训

COVID-19大流行导致医疗保健需求上升，导致全球医院急诊科的重大重组。本研究的目的是双重的：首先，要识别在希腊大流行和大流行前时期在外科急诊科（SED）出勤和入院原因方面的任何差异；其次，要评估在SED患者出勤大流行期间实施的锁定措施。自从希腊爆发COVID-19流行病（2020年3月1日）到2020年12月15日，回顾性分析了到达“ Attikon”大学医院第三外科科（外科和COVID-19病例三级转诊中心）SED的所有成年患者的病历，并在四个时期内进行了细分，反映了两次全国性禁闭（时期） A 1/3/2020至30/4/2020以及D期16/10/2020至15/12/2020）和两个过渡期（B 1/5/2020至15/6/2020以及C 15/9期） / 2020至30/10/2020）。将人口统计和临床数据与2019年同期相比进行了比较。在大流行期间，参加SED的患者总数下降了35.9％（从2019年的2839名患者下降到2020年的1819名患者）。在第一次锁定期间，在统计上显着减少了机动车事故（p = 0.04）和躯干伤害（p = 0.01）。相反，头部受伤率（p <0.001）和腹痛（p = 0.04）显着增加。在住院人数方面，观察到了相同的效果（p = 0.002），尽管就绝对人数而言，住院人数保持不变。在第二次锁定期间，肛周脓肿病例（p = 0.04）和与疝气有关的问题（p = 0.001）减少了。跌倒受伤率的增加也被证实（p = 0.02）。总体而言，锁定的应用导致轻度（p <0.001）和躯干（p = 0.001）的伤害显着降低。新的COVID-19疾病的负担已在全球急诊部门的职能中留下了明显的烙印。在希腊，大流行期间SED的出勤率显着降低，这一影响在封锁实施期间更为明显。