Emergency department visits and disease patterns during and after the COVID-19 lockdown

Nagham Faris, Layal Hamdar, Hani Tamim, Maha Makki and Eveline Hitti

PLOS ONE, 2026, vol. 21, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: Background: The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions in healthcare systems worldwide, particularly in emergency department (ED) utilization. While much research has focused on pre-pandemic and lockdown periods, most published evidence comes from high-income settings, with fewer studies from LMICs examining the post-lockdown ED trends and diagnostic patterns. Aim: This study analyzed variations in patient volumes and shifts in disease patterns among both adult and pediatric patients presenting to the ED during and after the COVID-19 lockdown at a tertiary care center in Lebanon. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted using administrative data from the ED of a tertiary care medical center in Beirut, Lebanon. The study focused on adult and pediatric patients admitted between February 29, 2020, and April 14, 2022, and included a total of 69,870 patients, of whom 21.2% were pediatric cases. Results: The average age of patients decreased significantly post-lockdown (41.7 ± 24.9 vs. 37.7 ± 25.7 years, p-value

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0352275

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0352275

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