ENT Service during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study in 572 patients.

Objective: To provide objective data on the impact of COVID-19 crisis on our ENT practice. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Tertiary referral hospital (1038 inpatients beds). Participants: 572 consecutive patients presenting to the ENT clinic and ENT operating theatre from March 16, 2020 to May 3, 2020 were prospectively included. Main outcome measures: Demographic and clinical data, admission time, paraclinic testing, management, outcome and follow’up were recorded. Retrospective search for comparison to past year over the same period of time was carried out. Results: Coronavirus crisis and the strict lockdown rules led to a severe disruption of the ENT service. A drop in overall activity of 91.1% was observed. Mortality rates increased from 0.82% to 4.55%. While some patients in real need may not have been able to be seen, others presented without ground. More than a quarter of admissions (n=157, 27.6%) resulted in no specific ENT treatment. Patient selection improved when patients had a recent ENT history (OR=2.39 [1.50-3.81], p=0.0003) or were referred by a physician (OR=5.30 [3.69-7.61], p<0.0001). Conclusions: Our data suggested impaired healthcare of all ENT patients. Special attention should be paid to non-Covid otolaryngology patients.