TY - JOUR T1 - Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on discharges against medical advice: a retrospective study TT - COVID-19 pandemisinin tıbbi tavsiyeye aykırı taburcu edilmelere etkisi: geriye dönük bir çalışma AU - Sarıdaş, Ali PY - 2025 DA - July Y2 - 2025 DO - 10.32322/jhsm.1685803 JF - Journal of Health Sciences and Medicine JO - J Health Sci Med /JHSM /jhsm PB - MediHealth Academy Yayıncılık WT - DergiPark SN - 2636-8579 SP - 542 EP - 545 VL - 8 IS - 4 LA - en AB - Aims: This study aims to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of discharge against medical advice (DAMA) in the emergency department (ED) and to compare the clinical and demographic characteristics of DAMA patients between the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods.Methods: This retrospective, observational, cross-sectional study was conducted in the ED of a tertiary care hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, which was designated as a pandemic center during the COVID-19 outbreak. The study included patients who presented to the ED between March 1, 2020, and March 1, 2021, and were classified as DAMA. A control group representing the corresponding pre-pandemic period (March 1, 2018-March 1, 2019) was established using the same inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: During the pandemic period, the total number of ED visits at our hospital decreased by 19.4% compared to the pre-pandemic period, while the number of DAMA cases increased by 28.4%. Among DAMA cases, an increase in the proportion of elderly patients was observed during the pandemic. There was also a statistically significant rise in the proportion of DAMA cases occurring during night shifts (38.0% vs. 55.5%; p KW - Discharge against medical advice KW - emergency department KW - patient discharge KW - COVID-19 N2 - Giriş:Bu çalışma, COVID-19 pandemisinin acil serviste (AS) taburcu olmadan hastaneden ayrılma (DAMA) insidansı üzerindeki etkisini değerlendirmeyi ve pandemi öncesi ile pandemi dönemlerindeki DAMA hastalarının klinik ve demografik özelliklerini karşılaştırmayı amaçlamaktadır.Yöntemler:Bu retrospektif, gözlemsel ve kesitsel çalışma, COVID-19 salgını sırasında pandemi merkezi olarak belirlenen İstanbul, Türkiye'deki üçüncü basamak bir hastanenin acil servisinde yürütülmüştür. Çalışmaya, 1 Mart 2020 ile 1 Mart 2021 tarihleri arasında acil servise başvuran ve DAMA olarak sınıflandırılan hastalar dahil edilmiştir. Aynı dahil edilme ve dışlanma kriterleri kullanılarak, pandemi öncesi dönemi temsil eden bir kontrol grubu oluşturulmuştur (1 Mart 2018 – 1 Mart 2019).Bulgular:Pandemi döneminde hastanemizdeki toplam acil servis başvuru sayısı, pandemi öncesi döneme kıyasla %19,4 oranında azalırken, DAMA vaka sayısı %28,4 oranında artmıştır. DAMA vakaları arasında, pandemi döneminde yaşlı hasta oranında artış gözlemlenmiştir. Ayrıca, gece vardiyalarında gerçekleşen DAMA vakalarının oranında da istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir artış saptanmıştır (%38,0 vs. %55,5; p < 0,001). Pandemi döneminde DAMA hastaları arasında hipertansiyon (%19,8 vs. %6,3; p < 0,001) ve diabetes mellitus (%16,2 vs. %7,7; p = 0,001) prevalansı anlamlı şekilde artmıştır. Ayrıca, kardiyoloji (%8,9 vs. %4,2; p = 0,011) ve enfeksiyon hastalıkları (%8,4 vs. %2,7; p < 0,001) konsültasyonu istenen hasta oranlarında da artış gözlenmiştir.Sonuçlar:COVID-19 pandemisi, acil serviste DAMA oranlarında anlamlı bir artışa yol açmıştır. 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Acad Emerg Med. 2006;13(3):325-330. doi:10.1197/j.aem.2005.09.005 UR - https://doi.org/10.32322/jhsm.1685803 L1 - https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4814547 ER -