COVID-19 Pandemic vs. Pre-Pandemic Period: Changes in Hospital Admission Rates, Length of Stay, and In-Hospital Mortality of Common Neurologic Conditions

Background and Objective: COVID-19 pandemic caused massive adjustments to healthcare systems in the country. This study determined the change in hospital admission rates, length of hospital stay and in-hospital mortality of common (non-COVID related) neurologic conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic and pre-pandemic period. Methods: The study utilized a retrospective cross-sectional study of patients admitted under the Department of Neurology at Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center from the period of March 2019 to March 2020 (pre-pandemic group), and April 2020 to April 2021 (COVID-19 pandemic). Admission rates, length of stay and in-hospital mortality were calculated for cerebrovascular diseases, CNS infections, CNS neoplasms and Seizure disorders. Results: There were 1090 admissions from April 2019 to March 2020 and 393 admissions from April 2020 to March 2021 with an over-all decline of 63%. During the pandemic, the duration of hospital stay was longer for CNS neoplasms. Duration of hospital stay for cerebrovascular disease, CNS infection, and seizure disorders were not significantly different. There was an increase in over-all in hospital mortality from 22.75% to 26.46% with significant increase in the case fatality rate of cerebrovascular diseases. Conclusion: We observed a large decline in the over-all admission rate and longer hospital stays. The over-all in-hospital mortality rate also increased during the pandemic period.