Healthcare Renunciation During the Confinement Period in Connection With the COVID-19 Epidemic in Adult Emergency Departments

Healthcare renunciation is defined as: "Individuals give up care when they do not seek services and health care professionals when they experience a disorder, experience a physical or mental disorder, or when they do not access all of the prescribed care." In 2008, 16.5% of the general French population reported having renounced care. The causes mentioned of the renunciation are mainly the financial difficulties, the deadlines of appointments considered too long, the geographical remoteness. In the department of Sarthe, the rate of cessation of care is estimated at 27.6% over the period from 2014 to 2017.

In the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, containment was applied in France counted from 17 March 2020. The widespread message was "save lives, stay at home". The Ministry of Solidarity and Health has provided health professionals with a circular to adapt the management of patients with chronic disease, requiring elective surgical care and pregnant women.

The decline in activity of general practitioners is estimated at 44% and that of other specialists at 71%. In Paris, visits to the emergency room fell by 45% for adults and 70% for children.

The main risk is the deterioration of the health status of some patients with the worsening of chronic diseases, the discovery of pathologies during episodes of decompensation and the absence of management of serious acute pathologies.

The study aims to assess the importance of giving up care during this period of COVID-19 and in comparison with a study conducted at the University Hospital of Angers and the hospital of Le Mans in 2017.