PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Woodcock, Thomas
AU  - Greenfield, Geva
AU  - Lalvani, Ajit
AU  - Majeed, Azeem
AU  - Aylin, Paul
TI  - Patient outcomes following emergency admission to hospital for COVID-19 compared with influenza: retrospective cohort study
AID  - 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2021-217858
DP  - 2023 Jul 01
TA  - Thorax
PG  - 706--712
VI  - 78
IP  - 7
4099  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/78/7/706.short
4100  - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/78/7/706.full
SO  - Thorax2023 Jul 01; 78
AB  - Background We examine differences in posthospitalisation outcomes, and health system resource use, for patients hospitalised with COVID-19 during the UK’s first pandemic wave in 2020, and influenza during 2018 and 2019.Methods This retrospective cohort study used routinely collected primary and secondary care data. Outcomes, measured for 90 days follow-up after discharge were length of stay in hospital, mortality, emergency readmission and primary care activity.Results The study included 5132 patients admitted to hospital as an emergency, with COVID-19 and influenza cohorts comprising 3799 and 1333 patients respectively. Patients in the COVID-19 cohort were more likely to stay in hospital longer than 10 days (OR 3.91, 95% CI 3.14 to 4.65); and more likely to die in hospital (OR 11.85, 95% CI 8.58 to 16.86) and within 90 days of discharge (OR 7.92, 95% CI 6.20 to 10.25). For those who survived, rates of emergency readmission within 90 days were comparable between COVID-19 and influenza cohorts (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.89 to 1.29), while primary care activity was greater among the COVID-19 cohort (incidence rate ratio 1.30, 95% CI 1.23 to 1.37).Conclusions Patients admitted for COVID-19 were more likely to die, more likely to stay in hospital for over 10 days and interact more with primary care after discharge, than patients admitted for influenza. However, readmission rates were similar for both groups. These findings, while situated in the context of the first wave of COVID-19, with the associated pressures on the health system, can inform health service planning for subsequent waves of COVID-19, and show that patients with COVID-19 interact more with healthcare services as well as having poorer outcomes than those with influenza.Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. The Discover data that support the findings of this study are available from Imperial College Partners, but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under licence for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Researchers wishing to access Discover data can apply as described by Bottle et al. 20