1
|
Akaishi T, Tarasawa K, Fushimi K, Ota C, Sekiguchi S, Aoyagi T, Yaegashi N, Aoki M, Fujimori K. A Reduction in the Number of Hospitalized Cases of Acute Meningitis during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan. Intern Med 2024; 63:1353-1359. [PMID: 38432966 PMCID: PMC11157317 DOI: 10.2169/internalmedicine.3022-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Objective The changes in the prevalence of acute meningitis during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remain unclear. This study aimed to compare the prevalence of acute meningitis before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the Japanese nationwide administrative medical payment system database, Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC), from 2016 to 2022. A total of 547 hospitals consistently and seamlessly offered DPC data during this period. The study period was divided into the following three periods: April 2016 to March 2018 (fiscal years 2016-2017), April 2018-March 2020 (2018-2019), and April 2020-March 2022 (2020-2021). Results Among the 28,161,806 patients hospitalized during the study period, 28,399 were hospitalized for acute meningitis: 16,678 for viral/aseptic type, 6,189 for bacterial type, 655 for fungal type, 429 for tuberculous, 2,310 for carcinomatous type, and 2,138 for other or unknown types of meningitis. A significant decrease during the pandemic was confirmed in viral (n=7,032, n=5,775, and n=3,871 in each period; p<0.0001) and bacterial meningitis (n=2,291, n=2,239, and n=1,659; p<0.0001) cases. Meanwhile, no decrease was observed in fungal meningitis (n=212, n=246, and n=197; p=0.056) or carcinomatous meningitis (n=781, n=795, and n=734; p=0.27). The decrease in the number of tuberculous meningitis cases was equivocal (n=166, n=146, and n=117; p=0.014). The decrease during the pandemic was more remarkable in younger populations aged <50 years than in older populations, both for viral and bacterial meningitis. Conclusion The number of hospitalized cases of acute meningitis clearly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for viral and bacterial meningitis in younger populations aged <50 years.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tetsuya Akaishi
- Department of Neurology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
- Department of Education and Support for Regional Medicine, Tohoku University Hospital, Japan
| | - Kunio Tarasawa
- Department of Health Administration and Policy, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
| | - Kiyohide Fushimi
- Department of Health Policy and Informatics, Tokyo Medical and Dental University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Japan
| | - Chiharu Ota
- Department of Pediatrics, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
- Development and Environmental Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
- Environment and Genome Research Center, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
| | | | - Tetsuji Aoyagi
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
| | - Nobuo Yaegashi
- Development and Environmental Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
- Environment and Genome Research Center, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
- Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Japan
| | - Masashi Aoki
- Department of Neurology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
| | - Kenji Fujimori
- Department of Health Administration and Policy, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Zhou Q, Hu J, Hu W, Li H, Lin GZ. Interrupted time series analysis using the ARIMA model of the impact of COVID-19 on the incidence rate of notifiable communicable diseases in China. BMC Infect Dis 2023; 23:375. [PMID: 37316780 DOI: 10.1186/s12879-023-08229-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2022] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in China is ongoing. Some studies have shown that the incidence of respiratory and intestinal infectious diseases in 2020 decreased significantly compared with previous years. Interrupted time series (ITS) is a time series analysis method that evaluates the impact of intervention measures on outcomes and can control the original regression trend of outcomes before and after the intervention. This study aimed to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on the incidence rate of notifiable communicable diseases using ITS in China. METHODS National data on the incidence rate of communicable diseases in 2009-2021 were obtained from the National Health Commission website. Interrupted time series analysis using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models was used to analyse the changes in the incidence rate of infectious diseases before and after the COVID-19 epidemic. RESULTS There was a significant short-term decline in the incidence rates of respiratory infectious diseases and enteric infectious diseases (step values of -29.828 and - 8.237, respectively), which remained at a low level for a long time after the decline. There was a short-term decline in the incidence rates of blood-borne and sexually transmitted infectious diseases (step = -3.638), which tended to recover to previous levels in the long term (ramp = 0.172). There was no significant change in the incidence rate of natural focus diseases or arboviral diseases before and after the epidemic. CONCLUSION The COVID-19 epidemic had strong short-term and long-term effects on respiratory and intestinal infectious diseases and short-term control effects on blood-borne and sexually transmitted infectious diseases. Our methods for the prevention and control of COVID-19 can be used for the prevention and control of other notifiable communicable diseases, especially respiratory and intestinal infectious diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qin Zhou
- Department of disease control and prevention, Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, No. 1 Qide Road, Baiyun district, 510440, 510440, Guangzhou, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
| | - Junxian Hu
- Department of disease control and prevention, Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, No. 1 Qide Road, Baiyun district, 510440, 510440, Guangzhou, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Wensui Hu
- Department of disease control and prevention, Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, No. 1 Qide Road, Baiyun district, 510440, 510440, Guangzhou, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Hailin Li
- Department of disease control and prevention, Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, No. 1 Qide Road, Baiyun district, 510440, 510440, Guangzhou, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Guo-Zhen Lin
- Department of disease control and prevention, Guangzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, No. 1 Qide Road, Baiyun district, 510440, 510440, Guangzhou, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Niu Q, Liu J, Zhao Z, Onishi M, Kawaguchi A, Bandara A, Harada K, Aoyama T, Nagai-Tanima M. Explanation of hand, foot, and mouth disease cases in Japan using Google Trends before and during the COVID-19: infodemiology study. BMC Infect Dis 2022; 22:806. [PMID: 36309663 PMCID: PMC9617033 DOI: 10.1186/s12879-022-07790-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affects common diseases, but its impact on hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is unclear. Google Trends data is beneficial for approximate real-time statistics and because of ease in access, is expected to be used for infection explanation from an information-seeking behavior perspective. We aimed to explain HFMD cases before and during COVID-19 using Google Trends. Methods HFMD cases were obtained from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and Google search data from 2009 to 2021 in Japan were downloaded from Google Trends. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated between HFMD cases and the search topic “HFMD” from 2009 to 2021. Japanese tweets containing “HFMD” were retrieved to select search terms for further analysis. Search terms with counts larger than 1000 and belonging to ranges of infection sources, susceptible sites, susceptible populations, symptoms, treatment, preventive measures, and identified diseases were retained. Cross-correlation analyses were conducted to detect lag changes between HFMD cases and search terms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple linear regressions with backward elimination processing were used to identify the most significant terms for HFMD explanation. Results HFMD cases and Google search volume peaked around July in most years, excluding 2020 and 2021. The search topic “HFMD” presented strong correlations with HFMD cases, except in 2020 when the COVID-19 outbreak occurred. In addition, the differences in lags for 73 (72.3%) search terms were negative, which might indicate increasing public awareness of HFMD infections during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of multiple linear regression demonstrated that significant search terms contained the same meanings but expanded informative search content during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions The significant terms for the explanation of HFMD cases before and during COVID-19 were different. Awareness of HFMD infections in Japan may have improved during the COVID-19 pandemic. Continuous monitoring is important to promote public health and prevent resurgence. The public interest reflected in information-seeking behavior can be helpful for public health surveillance. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-022-07790-9.
Collapse
|
4
|
Katayama Y, Tanaka K, Kitamura T, Takeuchi T, Nakao S, Nitta M, Iwami T, Fujimi S, Uejima T, Miyamoto Y, Baba T, Mizobata Y, Kuwagata Y, Shimazu T, Matsuoka T. Incidence and Mortality of Emergency Patients Transported by Emergency Medical Service Personnel during the Novel Corona Virus Pandemic in Osaka Prefecture, Japan: A Population-Based Study. J Clin Med 2021; 10:5662. [PMID: 34884363 PMCID: PMC8658143 DOI: 10.3390/jcm10235662] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2021] [Revised: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 11/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the COVID-19 pandemic affects the emergency medical service (EMS) system, little is known about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prognosis of emergency patients. This study aimed to reveal the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the EMS system and patient outcomes. We included patients transported by ambulance who were registered in a population-based registry of patients transported by ambulance. The endpoints of this study were the incident number of patients transported by ambulance each month and the number of deaths among these patients admitted to hospital each month. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using a Poisson regression model with the year 2019 as the reference were calculated. A total of 500,194 patients were transported in 2019, whereas 443,321 patients were transported in 2020, indicating a significant decrease in the number of emergency patients transported by ambulance (IRR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.88-0.89). The number of deaths of emergency patients admitted to hospital was 11,931 in 2019 and remained unchanged at 11,963 in 2020 (IRR: 1.00, 95% CI: 0.98-1.03). The incidence of emergency patients transported by ambulance decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but the mortality of emergency patients admitted to hospital did not change in this study.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yusuke Katayama
- Department of Traumatology and Acute Critical Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita 565-0871, Japan;
| | - Kenta Tanaka
- Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, Division of Environmental Medicine and Population Sciences, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita 565-0871, Japan; (K.T.); (T.K.); (T.T.)
| | - Tetsuhisa Kitamura
- Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, Division of Environmental Medicine and Population Sciences, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita 565-0871, Japan; (K.T.); (T.K.); (T.T.)
| | - Taro Takeuchi
- Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, Division of Environmental Medicine and Population Sciences, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita 565-0871, Japan; (K.T.); (T.K.); (T.T.)
| | - Shota Nakao
- Senshu Trauma and Critical Care Center, Rinku General Medical Center, Izumisano 598-8577, Japan; (S.N.); (T.M.)
| | - Masahiko Nitta
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Takatsuki 569-8686, Japan;
| | - Taku Iwami
- Kyoto University Health Service, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan;
| | - Satoshi Fujimi
- Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, Osaka General Medical Center, Osaka 558-8558, Japan;
| | - Toshifumi Uejima
- Emergency Care Center, Kindai University Hospital, Osaka-Sayama 589-8511, Japan;
| | | | | | - Yasumitsu Mizobata
- Department of Traumatology and Critical Care Medicine, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 558-8585, Japan;
| | - Yasuyuki Kuwagata
- Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Kansai Medical University, Hirakata 573-1010, Japan;
| | - Takeshi Shimazu
- Department of Traumatology and Acute Critical Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita 565-0871, Japan;
| | - Tetsuya Matsuoka
- Senshu Trauma and Critical Care Center, Rinku General Medical Center, Izumisano 598-8577, Japan; (S.N.); (T.M.)
| |
Collapse
|