Visits to the emergency department by community-dwelling people with dementia during the first 2 waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario: a repeated cross-sectional analysis

July 2022
Journal: CMAJ Open
Lead Author: Laura C. Maclagan

All Authors: Laura C. Maclagan, Xuesong Wang, Abby Emdin, Aaron Jones, R. Liisa Jaakkimainen, Michael J. Schull, Nadia Sourial, Isabelle Vedel, Richard H. Swartz and Susan E. Bronskill

Community-dwelling people with dementia have been affected by COVID-19 pandemic health risks and control measures that resulted in worsened access to health care and service cancellation. One critical access point in health systems is the emergency department. We aimed to determine the change in weekly rates of visits to the emergency department of community-dwelling people with dementia in Ontario during the first 2 waves of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with historical patterns.