Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep 20;19(19):11875.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph191911875.

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

Minju Kim  1 , Jin-A Park  1 , Hyunkyung Cha  1 , Woo Hyun Lee  2 , Seung-No Hong  1 , Dae Woo Kim  1
Affiliations

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

Minju Kim et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Sohrabi C., Alsafi Z., O’neill N., Khan M., Kerwan A., Al-Jabir A., Iosifidis C., Agha R. World Health Organization declares global emergency: A review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) Int. J. Surg. 2020;76:71–76. doi: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2020.02.034. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shubber N., Sheppard J., Alradhawi M., Ali Y. The impacts of the novel SARS-CoV-2 outbreak on surgical oncology—A letter to the editor on “The socio-economic implications of the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic: A review”. Int. J. Surg. 2020;79:109–110. doi: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2020.05.032. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mamelund S.E. A socially neutral disease? Individual social class, household wealth and mortality from Spanish influenza in two socially contrasting parishes in Kristiania 1918–1919. Soc. Sci. Med. 2006;62:923–940. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.06.051. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Avgar A., Eaton A., Kolins Givan R., Seth Litwin A. Paying the Price for a Broken Healthcare System: Rethinking Employment, Labor, and Work in a Post-Pandemic World. Work Occup. 2020;47:267–279. doi: 10.1177/0730888420923126. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. O’Dowd A. COVID-19 pandemic is magnifying healthcare inequalities, says England’s regulator. BMJ. 2020;371:m4035. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m4035. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

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).