Impact of the COVID-19 and Socioeconomic Status on Access to Care for Otorhinolaryngology Patients

Minju Kim; Jin-A Park; Hyunkyung Cha; Woo Hyun Lee; Seung-No Hong; Dae Woo Kim

doi:10.3390/ijerph191911875

Impact of the COVID-19 and Socioeconomic Status on Access to Care for Otorhinolaryngology Patients

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 20;19(19):11875. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191911875.

Authors

Minju Kim¹, Jin-A Park¹, Hyunkyung Cha¹, Woo Hyun Lee², Seung-No Hong¹, Dae Woo Kim¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Boramae Medical Center, Seoul 07061, Korea.
² Department of Otolaryngology, Kangwon National University Hospital, College of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24289, Korea.

Abstract

Since December 2019, COVID-19 has greatly influenced public healthcare systems around the globe in various aspects, including limitation of healthcare accessibility due to lack of both human and financial resources, suspension of clinics, and fear of infection causing healthcare avoidance. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on access to healthcare for otorhinolaryngology patients from different socioeconomic status (SES) groups. Otorhinolaryngology patients' disease severity status, diagnosed at the first hospital visit, was investigated during the pre -and post-COVID-19 pandemic era in a single medical center located in Seoul, Korea. An ordinal regression model was used to assess the impact of both SES and the COVID-19 pandemic on otorhinolaryngology diseases. Within the chronic rhinosinusitis group, lower SES was associated with a higher disease severity at the first visit compared to higher SES (OR = 3.25). During the COVID-19 pandemic, while the total number of outpatients was reduced, the severity of these ENT diseases seemed to increase compared to the pre-pandemic severity in every SES group. Our study demonstrates the negative impact a worldwide pandemic can have on healthcare inequity and disease severity, and highlights the importance of re-allocating fundamental resources for those in need during periods of public health crisis.

Keywords: COVID-19; health insurance; health services accessibility; healthcare disparities; otolaryngology; socioeconomic status.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Health Services Accessibility
Humans
Otolaryngology*
Pandemics
Social Class

Grants and funding

This research was supported by two funding resources, the clinical research grant-in-aid from the Seoul Metropolitan Government Seoul National University (SMG-SNU) Boramae Medical Center, grant number 04-2020-6 and the Korea Medical Device Development Fund grant funded by the Korea government (the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Health & Welfare, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) (Project Number: RS-2022-00141696).