Authors:	Schepers, Markus Schmidtmann, Irene Zahn, Daniela Wild, Philipp Beutel, Manfred Schuster, Alexander K. Münzel, Thomas Lackner, Karl J. Geschke, Katharina Schattenberg, Jörn Baumkötter, Rieke Yilmaz, Simge Wollschläger, Daniel
Title:	Medical appointments and provision of medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mainz, Germany
Online publication date:	26-May-2023
Year of first publication:	2023
Language:	english
Abstract:	Previous evidence suggested that non-COVID-19-related medical care was reduced during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it remained unclear whether or to which extent this effect lasted beyond the first wave, or existed in a longer time frame. Here, we consider questionnaire data of the Gutenberg-COVID-19 study together with pre-pandemic baseline data of the Gutenberg Health Study concerning the region around Mainz, Germany, to study the effects of the pandemic on the provision of medical care until April 2021. We observed that the proportion of cancelled medical appointments was low and that the fraction of participants with a medical appointment as an indicator for the number of appointments being made was in line with pre-pandemic levels. Appointments were more likely cancelled by the patient (rather than the provider), and more likely cancelled by medical specialists such as dentists or ophthalmologists (rather than GPs). In conclusion, we found some evidence that, at least with regard to realized appointments, the medical system and the provision of medical care were not harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic on a longer time scale.
DDC:	610 Medizin 610 Medical sciences
Institution:	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Department:	FB 04 Medizin
Place:	Mainz
ROR:	https://ror.org/023b0x485
DOI:	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-9125
Version:	Published version
Publication type:	Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Document type specification:	Scientific article
License:	CC BY
Information on rights of use:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Journal:	PLOS ONE 18 1
Pages or article number:	e0280292
Publisher:	PLOS
Publisher place:	San Francisco, California, US
Issue date:	2023
ISSN:	1932-6203
Publisher DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0280292
Appears in collections:	DFG-491381577-G