TY - JOUR
T1 - Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients Undergoing Endoscopy During the COVID-19 Pandemic
T2 - A Multicenter Study from New York City
AU - Blackett, John W.
AU - Kumta, Nikhil A.
AU - Dixon, Rebekah E.
AU - David, Yakira
AU - Nagula, Satish
AU - DiMaio, Christopher J.
AU - Greenwald, David
AU - Sharaiha, Reem Z.
AU - Sampath, Kartik
AU - Carr-Locke, David
AU - Guerson-Gil, Arcelia
AU - Ho, Sammy
AU - Lebwohl, Benjamin
AU - Garcia-Carrasquillo, Reuben
AU - Rajan, Anjana
AU - Annadurai, Vasantham
AU - Gonda, Tamas A.
AU - Freedberg, Daniel E.
AU - Mahadev, Srihari
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly impacted the practice of endoscopy, but characteristics of COVID patients undergoing endoscopy have not been adequately described. Aims: To compare findings, clinical outcomes, and patient characteristics of endoscopies performed during the pandemic in patients with and without COVID-19. Methods: This was a retrospective multicenter study of adult endoscopies at six academic hospitals in New York between March 16 and April 30, 2020. Patient and procedure characteristics including age, sex, indication, findings, interventions, and outcomes were compared in patients testing positive, negative, or untested for COVID-19. Results: Six hundred and five endoscopies were performed on 545 patients during the study period. There were 84 (13.9%), 255 (42.2%), and 266 (44.0%) procedures on COVID-positive, negative, and untested patients, respectively. COVID patients were more likely to undergo endoscopy for gastrointestinal bleeding or gastrostomy tube placement, and COVID patients with gastrointestinal bleeding more often required hemostatic interventions on multivariable logistic regression. COVID patients had increased length of stay, intensive care unit admission, and intubation rate. Twenty-seven of 521 patients (5.2%) with no or negative COVID testing prior to endoscopy later tested positive, a median of 13.5 days post-procedure. Conclusions: Endoscopies in COVID patients were more likely to require interventions, due either to more severe illness or a higher threshold to perform endoscopy. A significant number of patients endoscoped without testing were subsequently found to be COVID-positive. Gastroenterologists in areas affected by the pandemic must adapt to changing patterns of endoscopy practice and ensure pre-endoscopy COVID testing.
AB - Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly impacted the practice of endoscopy, but characteristics of COVID patients undergoing endoscopy have not been adequately described. Aims: To compare findings, clinical outcomes, and patient characteristics of endoscopies performed during the pandemic in patients with and without COVID-19. Methods: This was a retrospective multicenter study of adult endoscopies at six academic hospitals in New York between March 16 and April 30, 2020. Patient and procedure characteristics including age, sex, indication, findings, interventions, and outcomes were compared in patients testing positive, negative, or untested for COVID-19. Results: Six hundred and five endoscopies were performed on 545 patients during the study period. There were 84 (13.9%), 255 (42.2%), and 266 (44.0%) procedures on COVID-positive, negative, and untested patients, respectively. COVID patients were more likely to undergo endoscopy for gastrointestinal bleeding or gastrostomy tube placement, and COVID patients with gastrointestinal bleeding more often required hemostatic interventions on multivariable logistic regression. COVID patients had increased length of stay, intensive care unit admission, and intubation rate. Twenty-seven of 521 patients (5.2%) with no or negative COVID testing prior to endoscopy later tested positive, a median of 13.5 days post-procedure. Conclusions: Endoscopies in COVID patients were more likely to require interventions, due either to more severe illness or a higher threshold to perform endoscopy. A significant number of patients endoscoped without testing were subsequently found to be COVID-positive. Gastroenterologists in areas affected by the pandemic must adapt to changing patterns of endoscopy practice and ensure pre-endoscopy COVID testing.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Coronavirus
KW - Endoscopy
KW - Gastrointestinal bleeding
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091004705&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10620-020-06593-9
DO - 10.1007/s10620-020-06593-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 32930898
AN - SCOPUS:85091004705
SN - 0163-2116
VL - 66
SP - 2545
EP - 2554
JO - Digestive Diseases and Sciences
JF - Digestive Diseases and Sciences
IS - 8
ER -