{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,24]],"date-time":"2026-09-24T13:03:09Z","timestamp":1790254989984,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,28]],"date-time":"2025-12-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1766880000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,28]],"date-time":"2025-12-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1766880000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Emerg Medicine Australasia"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To examine trends in emergency department (ED) presentations, hospital admissions, and patient outcomes for abdominal pain across New South Wales (NSW) before, during, and after the first COVID\u201019 lockdown.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This multi\u2010centre retrospective study analysed de\u2010identified administrative data from NSW public hospitals. ED presentations and hospital admissions for abdominal pain were reviewed across five 31\u2010day periods: pre\u2010pandemic, lockdown, and 3\u2010, 6\u2010, and 12\u2010months post\u2010lockdown.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A total of 35,327 abdominal pain ED presentations were identified. Presentations fell by 31.0%, from 7531 pre\u2010pandemic to 5199 during lockdown, then increased steadily to 7942 (5.5% above baseline) at 12\u2009months. Acuity shifted, with urgent triage cases rising from 57.6% to 61.7%, while semi\u2010urgent cases declined. Ambulance arrivals grew from 23.4% to 28.5% during lockdown, offset by fewer walk\u2010ins. Hospital admissions rose from 2517 at baseline to 2733 at lockdown onset, peaking at 3017 at 3 months later a 19.9% increase (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03c7<\/jats:italic>\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      \u2009=\u200992.28, df\u2009=\u20094,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&lt;\u20090.0001). Emergency admissions showed a similar pattern (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03c7<\/jats:italic>\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      \u2009=\u2009156.81, df\u2009=\u20094,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&lt;\u20090.0001). Surgical admissions increased from 697 (32.8%) to 840 (38.2%) initially, before declining to 750 (34.2%) at 12\u2009months (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&lt;\u20090.01). ICU admission rates remained stable, though average ICU hours fluctuated. The mean length of stay for acute overnight admissions shortened from 6.6\u2009days pre\u2010pandemic to 6.0\u2009days during lockdown, returning to 6.5\u2009days by 12\u2009months.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The COVID\u201019 pandemic substantially altered patterns of abdominal pain presentations and hospital use, with lasting changes in acuity and admission practices.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/1742-6723.70192","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,29]],"date-time":"2025-12-29T05:02:42Z","timestamp":1766984562000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Impact of\n                    <scp>COVID<\/scp>\n                    \u201019 on Abdominal Pain Presentations and Hospital Outcomes in New South Wales: Findings From the\n                    <scp>ICON<\/scp>\n                    Study"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"38","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-1714-322X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lydia","family":"Lozzi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department Royal North Shore Hospital  St Leonards New South Wales Australia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine Macquarie University  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5569-704X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hatem","family":"Alkhouri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Intelligence and Support for Innovation, Transformation and Evaluation Agency for Clinical Innovation  Sydney New South Wales Australia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine and Health The University of Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1630-4570","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Huei\u2010Yang","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Intelligence and Support for Innovation, Transformation and Evaluation Agency for Clinical Innovation  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-1474-8462","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Symret","family":"Singh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department Royal North Shore Hospital  St Leonards New South Wales Australia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine and Health The University of Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6690-342X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas J.","family":"Hugh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, School of Medicine The University of Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6287-7137","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mark","family":"Gillett","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Emergency Department Royal North Shore Hospital  St Leonards New South Wales Australia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine and Health The University of Sydney  Sydney New South Wales Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_10_2_1","unstructured":"World Health Organisation \u201cCoronavirus Disease (COVID\u201019) \u201d2025 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