Interim COVID-19 report
The NELA team published an interim report on the impact of COVID-19 on emergency laparotomy between March - September 2020. The full report and summary infographic can be found below.
Key Findings
The overall number of patients who had emergency laparotomy fell by 20% during the period reported when compared with the same time frame in the previous year.
The inpatient 30-day mortality of patients without COVID-19 fell to 7.6%, meaning that the outcomes of those without COVID-19 did not seem to be impacted. However, patients who had emergency laparotomy and also had COVID-19 had a higher chance of dying, at 12.5%, which was higher than predicted by the NELA risk model. This means that patients with COVID-19 undergoing emergency laparotomy are high-risk and must be recognised as such. This is important when making shared decisions with patients.
Admission directly to critical care for high-risk patients reduced during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Slightly more patients with COVID-19 went to critical care than those without.
Overall, standards of care for patients undergoing emergency laparotomy were maintained during the COVID-19 pandemic.
