Mimic study - Monitoring the indirect impact of Covid-19 on equity in hospital care
The spread of the Coronavirus-19 epidemic has led to a reorganization of health care. The contraction in the supply and use of hospital care caused by the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak may have contributed to exacerbating any inequalities already present in access to care.
To assess the impact, if any, of Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown measures on social inequalities in access to hospital care.
A multicenter study was conducted and analyzed the volumes of hospitalizations pertaining to the clinical areas of cardiology, neurology, orthopedics, and oncology in the different social strata of the population using educational level as an indicator of socioeconomic disadvantage. The study compared hospital indicators in the first pandemic year (2020) versus the pre-pandemic period (2018-19) and measured the level of inequality through an index of relative inequality.
The analysis showed that during the first seven months of the pandemic, women, the elderly, and those with low levels of education experienced the greatest decline in hospitalizations for acute conditions, planned surgeries, and oncology surgery compared to 2018-2019, resulting in changes in the socioeconomic gradient.
The study is coordinated by the Suprazonal Epidemiology Service SCaDU ASL Torino 3 and has the participation of Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Apulia and Sicily, ATS Milan, metropolitan city of Rome.
The activity started in 2021 and is ongoing.
Lucia Bisceglia is chief scientific head.
Indirect impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and its containment measures on social inequalities in hospital utilization in Italy" was published in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
