{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,2]],"date-time":"2025-11-02T04:00:53Z","timestamp":1762056053028,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,20]],"date-time":"2022-06-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1655683200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic has affected emergency department (ED) usage. This study examines changes in the number of ED visits for gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding and nonemergency GI conditions, such as acute gastroenteritis (AGE) and constipation, before the pandemic and at the peak and slack periods of the pandemic in Taiwan. This retrospective observational study was conducted at a referral medical center in northern Taiwan. We recorded the number of weekly ED visits for GI bleeding, AGE, and constipation from 2019 to 2021. We then compared the baseline period (calendar weeks 4\u201318 and 21\u201331, 2019) with two peak pandemic periods (period 1, calendar weeks 4\u201318, 2020; period 2, calendar weeks 21\u201331, 2021) and their corresponding slack periods. The decline in the number of ED visits during the two peak pandemic periods for GI bleeding (\u221218.4% and \u221230.2%) were not as substantial as for AGE (\u221264.1% and \u221276.7%) or for constipation (\u221244.4% and \u221263.6%), but GI bleeding cases were still significantly lower in number relative to the baseline. During the slack period, the number of ED visits for all three diagnoses rebounded but did not exceed the baseline. Our study revealed that there was a significant decline of GI complaint during the pandemic. This phenomenon was more prominent in nonemergency complaints (AGE and constipation) and less prominent in serious complaints (GI bleeding).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph19127516","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,21]],"date-time":"2022-06-21T01:43:27Z","timestamp":1655775807000},"page":"7516","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Impact of COVID-19 by Pandemic Wave among Patients with Gastroenterology Symptoms in the Emergency Departments at a Medical Center in Taiwan"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Tony","family":"Kuo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan City 333, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2368-6266","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chun-Hao","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan City 333, Taiwan"},{"name":"Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan City 333, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9538-6265","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cheng-Yu","family":"Chien","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate Institute of Management, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan City 333, Taiwan"},{"name":"Department of Emergency Medicine, Ton-Yen General Hospital, Zhubei City 302, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chung-Cheng","family":"Yeh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Keelung, Keelung City 204, Taiwan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"699","article-title":"Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Emergency Department Visits\u2014United States, January 1, 2019\u2013May 30, 2020","volume":"69","author":"Hartnett","year":"2020","journal-title":"MMWR"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e10","DOI":"10.1016\/S2352-4642(20)30108-5","article-title":"Delayed access or provision of care in Italy resulting from fear of COVID-19","volume":"4","author":"Lazzerini","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet Child Adolesc. 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