In 2020, 12.3% of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 (about 35 thousand) needed intensive care. The figure is higher in the Center (13.3%) but, above all, in the South (16.2% in the South and 16.5% in the Islands). This was revealed by the joint Istat-Agenas report, which analyzes for the first time the impact of the Sars-CoV-2 epidemic on the Italian hospital system.
The share of Covid-19 hospitalizations in intensive care is higher in the first wave (13.3%) than in the second (11.9%) in October-December, but in the second the territorial variability increased, from a minimum of 9.3% in the Northeast to a maximum of 16.9% in the Islands, where the use of intensive care for Covid-19 cases between the two waves decreased by only 0.8 percentage points.
The Covid-19 hospitalization rate on the resident population, in 2020, was 48 per 10 thousand, with higher values for men (57.4 versus 38.7 for women), for the over 65 (133.3) and in the Northwest (82.6).
Ordinary hospitalizations of patients with Covid-19 in 2020 follow the trend of pandemic waves, with two peaks corresponding to the first wave of March-April (in which 35.9% of Covid-19 hospitalizations of the year were recorded ) and the second wave of October-December (54.6%).
In the first wave, the North-West was more affected than the rest of Italy, and in fact in the months of March-April it recorded approximately 45% of all Covid-19 hospitalizations carried out in the area during 2020, compared to 12 , 5% of the Islands, 18.5% of the South, 25.7% of the Center and 36.6% of the Northeast. During the second wave of October-December, the incidence of Covid-19 hospitalizations was more marked in the Islands (77.7%) and in the South (70.9%).
The elderly are confirmed to pay the highest price of the Covid pandemic, even among the hospitalized. If 21.6% of the total Covid-19 hospitalizations in 2020 died, almost all (90%) are represented by over 65. In this age group, the percentage of hospitalizations ending in death is equal to 30.2%: this value drops to 19.6% among patients aged 65-74 and rises to 42.1% among those aged 85 and more. This was revealed by the joint Istat-Agenas report, which analyzes for the first time the impact of the Sars-CoV-2 epidemic on the Italian hospital system.
“The health emergency following the spread of Covid-19 has caused a real ‘shock’ on the hospital system”. In 2020 there were approximately 6.5 million hospitalizations, equal to 22% less than in the previous three years, with a reduction in hospitalizations related to other pathologies more marked in correspondence with the first wave, still emerges.
The reduction in hospitalizations was more marked in correspondence with the first pandemic wave, with ordinary hospitalization rates decreased by 45% in April and by 39% in May compared to the average of the same months 2017-2019. During the second pandemic wave, the impact on the hospital system was more contained, with reductions of 25% in November and 26% in December. In detail, hospitalizations for diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue decreased by 29.5%, those for diseases of the digestive system by 27.2% and by 25.2% for diseases of the genitourinary system . Hospitalizations for trauma (-17.3%), tumors (-14.5%), pregnancy and childbirth (-11.7%) have undergone more limited reductions.
With regard to the hospitalizations of patients with Covid-19, equal to 286,530, it was observed that the latter followed the trend of the pandemic waves, with two peaks corresponding to the first (36% of the Covid-19 cases recorded in the entire year) and that of October-December (55%). It is also underlined that the diagnoses most frequently associated with Covid-19 hospitalizations were chronic diseases of the respiratory system, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, overweight and obesity, and Alzheimer’s disease.
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