Change in Patient Flow in the Epilepsy Care Network Due to Novel Coronavirus Infection: An Opportunity to Strengthen Local Interdisciplinary Epilepsy Care With General Physicians

Introduction: Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is spreading worldwide. We hypothesized that patient flow in epilepsy care would change as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to compare the number of patients who visited our epilepsy center before and during the first peak of the pandemic. Methods: We recorded the number of patients with epilepsy referred from general physicians (GPs) to our hospital (GP-H group), the number of patients who visited our hospital on a regular basis (R group), and the number of patients referred from our hospital to GPs (H-GP group) between July 2019 and June 2020. Results: A total of 1,839 epilepsy patients made 4,197 visits to our hospital: 979 males and 860 females (age range, 0-94 years; mean age, 37.6 years; median age, 34 years). There were 433 patients in the GP-H group (247 before the pandemic, 186 during the first peak of the pandemic; p = 0.008). In the R group, 1,406 patients made 3,764 visits (1,992 visits before the pandemic, 1,772 during the first peak of the pandemic). In the H-GP group, 135 patients were referred to GPs (47 patients before the pandemic, 88 patients during the first peak of the pandemic; p = 0.023). Conclusion: Patient flow in the epilepsy care network changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes might present an opportunity to strengthen local interdisciplinary epilepsy care.