Disease Pattern of Patients Attending Two District Hospitals for Examination and Treatment During the Years before and after the Covid-19 Pandemic

Prof. Dr. Truong Viet Dung¹, Doctor. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Loan², MA. Nguyen Kha Kinh³  – ¹Hoa Binh University, ²An Bien District Health Center, ³Thanh Oai District Health Center

Abstract:

The study employed a retrospective descriptive design, utilizing data from the health insurance reports at a district hospital in the Southern Vietnam (District AB), which was characterized by large urban remoteness, covering the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. The dataset included 352,881 patients during the outbreak period. Additionally, data were gathered from a Northern region hospital (District TO), located in the suburbs of a major urban area, spanning 5 years from 2019 to 2023, with a database of 411,189 patients recorded at the end of 2020 and the again in April 2022. The findings indicate that:(1) The overall disease structure according to 22 disease chapters in both hospitals, remained relatively stable, with minimal impact from the pandemic. District TO’s suburban hospitals showed an increase in chapters IX and XI; (2) there were notable fluctuations in disease patterns in both inpatient and outpatient settings the Covid-19 epidemic. Specifically, the number of outpatients increased during the outbreak, while inpatients admissions significantly decreased. At AB hospital, outpatient visits surged in 2020 while inpatient admissions saw a steep decline, particularly among the top 10. The sharpest decrease reduction was observed in musculoskeletal and joint disorders. Three conditions experienced substantial decreases: gastroduodenitis (K29) fell by more than tenfold, from 6,269 cases to 607; asthma (J45) and atopic dermatitis (L20) also saw reductions of over 50%. At TO Hospital, the annual number of inpatients was relatively low, making the impact of the epidemic less apparent. Conclusions: The structure of the disease chapters according to ICD-10 remained largely unchanged throughout the study period. The Covid-19 epidemic led to a reduction the top 10 diseases among inpatients while increasing the volume of outpatients. Many conditions saw sharp declines in both outpatients and inpatients categories .

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Keywords:Disease pattern, ICD-10, COVID-19, outpatient, inpatient, musculoskeletal disorders, gastroduodenitis, asthma, atopic dermatitis, health insurance data.