Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the time to endoscopy in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding

摘要

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, endoscopic procedures are associated with a high risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.?However, in cases of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB), priority should be given to an early endoscopy. Objective: The?main objective was to compare the time since arrival at the hospital and the performance of the endoscopy between both?groups. Materials and methods: We performed a retrospective study. Data contains information of patients who attended to the?hospital with UGIB and underwent an endoscopy between October 19th, 2019 and June 6th, 2020. Patients were divided into?2 phases: pre-pandemic and pandemic. The time between arrival at the hospital and the performance of the endoscopy in both?phases were compared as well as other indicators such hospital stay and in-hospital mortality. Results: With information from?219 patients, the median age was 69 years. 154 and 65 endoscopies were performed in pre-pandemic and pandemic phase,?respectively. The time between arrival at the hospital and the performance of the endoscopy was significantly longer duringthe pandemic (10.00 vs. 13.08 hours, p-value = 0.019). Nevertheless, there were no significant differences in hospital stay or?mortality. Conclusion: The management of patients with UGIB during the COVID-19 pandemic is complex and requires the?application of clinical judgment to decide the best timing to perform an endoscopy without affecting patient care.