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Effects of 2019’s social protests on emergency health services utilization and case severity in Santiago, Chile: a time-series analysis

Authors :
Abraham I.J. Gajardo
Thomas D. Wagner
Kristina Devi Howell
Andrés González-Santa Cruz
Jay S. Kaufman
Alvaro Castillo-Carniglia
Source :
The Lancet Regional Health. Americas, Vol 5, Iss , Pp 100082- (2022)
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
Elsevier, 2022.

Abstract

Summary: Background: On October 18th, 2019, protestors gathered across Chile to call for social equity, resulting in widespread civil unrest and violent confrontation with the police. In this study, we quantify the effects of the 2019 Chilean protests on emergency health services utilization and inpatient admission in Santiago. Methods: We used weekly emergency department (ED) admissions (2015-2019) from three large public hospitals near the focal point of protests in Santiago. The exposure period was from October 18th to December 31st, 2019. The outcomes were the number of weekly consultations and hospitalizations by trauma and respiratory causes and the proportion of hospitalizations among consultants per 1,000. We implemented Bayesian structural time series models to calculate the absolute and relative effects and 95% credible intervals (CrI). Findings: During the first ten weeks of protests ED consultations declined on average by 14% for trauma (95%CrI: -40·2%, 11·5%) and 30% for respiratory causes (95%CrI: -89·4%, 30·2%), 7% for respiratory hospitalizations (95%CrI: -43·6%, 30·8%); however, none of these three results were statistically distinguishable from the null. Trauma hospitalizations, on the other hand, increased by 15% (95%CrI: 4·0%, 26·4%), and the proportion of hospitalizations per consultations increased by 40% for trauma (95%CrI: 13·1%, 68·0%) and 59% for respiratory causes (95%CrI: 29·4%, 87·9%). Interpretation: The 2019 Chilean protests affected the use of emergency health services by increasing the trauma hospitalizations and the case hospitalization ratio per 1,000 consultations for trauma and respiratory causes. Crowd-control protocols must be reviewed to prevent the negative effects of civil unrest.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2667193X
Volume :
5
Issue :
100082-
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
The Lancet Regional Health. Americas
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.58233988034520a129359e1bbc9c63
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2021.100082