Emergency Department Use by Young Adults With Chronic Illness Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

It studied one New York City emergency department and only six chronic conditions, so it may not apply to other hospitals or conditions. The stated periods were October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019 and February 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021, and the hospital changed electronic record systems in February 2020, so patient matching relied on name and birth date. The study did not separate diabetes type or specific mental health diagnoses, and it looked only at ED encounters for chronic disease care. It cannot show why encounters changed because it did not track outpatient care, patient reasons, or disease severity. The diabetes admission percentage change was not significant (P = .43).

The authors reported no conflicts of interest. The research received no specific grant from public, commercial, or not-for-profit funders.

Do not read the drop in ED visits as proof that young adults with chronic illness were healthier or that their care needs fell. The study only compared ED records from one hospital before and during the pandemic and did not measure outpatient care or disease severity.