Impact of Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak on the use of emergency medical resources in febrile patients

Jeong, Hyunho; Jeong, Sikyoung; Oh, Juseok; Woo, Seon Hee; So, Byung Hak; Wee, Jeong Hee; Kim, Ji Hoon; Im, Ji Yong; Choi, Seung Pill; Park, Kyoungnam; Cho, Byul Nim Hee; Hong, Sungyoup

Demographic characteristics of patients with febrile complaints were analyzed separately, in order to assess the potential effects of the MERS outbreak on patient care. We present a controlled study comparing patient data before and after the MERS outbreak. Data were stratified according to age and two groups were compared, the children under five years of age (under five, UF) and the group of age five years and over (over five, OF) along with the previous study, 7 and aggregated to yearly levels. The total number of febrile patients and the proportion of febrile patients out of the total number of ED attendances was normalized with the proportion in 2012 for each hospital as a relative proportion and compared. The demographic and clinical characteristics of patients after the MERS epidemic outbreak were compared with data for the three years preceding the outbreak. Analysis of variance with post-hoc Tukey's honest significant difference test was used to compare the relative proportions, mean age, duration of symptoms before ED visit, length of ED stay, vital signs, and clinical outcome variables, among the four years. Sex and ED disposition were compared using the chi square test. Statistical analysis was repeated for each age group. R-studio was used for all statistical analysis. The graphs represent arithmetic means with error bars of 95% confidence intervals. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.