Examination of changes in the number of neurosurgical disease cases because of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Abstract

  With the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and state of emergency declaration, individuals’ lives have become concerned on infection control. We examined whether the number of neurosurgical disease cases changed under these circumstances. The participants were patients who were hospitalized from January 2017 to December 2022 at our hospital’s neurosurgical department. We divided the target cases from 2017 to 2019 (before the pandemic) and from 2020 to 2022 (during the pandemic) and compared the total number. Furthermore, the cases were divided into brain tumors, cerebrovascular diseases, neurotraumas, chronic subdural hematomas, and others, and the numbers of cases were compared. The annual average values before and during the pandemic decreased in all cases, excluding the total number and cerebrovascular diseases. The total number declined in 2020, remained unchanged in 2021, and declined further in 2022. In 2020, brain tumors and cerebrovascular diseases decreased, and from 2021 onwards they returned to the pre‒pandemic levels. Neurotraumas and others decreased in 2020, remained unchanged in 2021, and decreased further in 2022. Chronic subdural hematomas remained unchanged in 2020, decreased in 2021, and remained unchanged in 2022. Hospital and patient‒side factors were considered. The number of neurotraumas may decrease because of the reduced amount of traffic due to refraining from going out.