Trends in gastrointestinal disease hospitalizations and outcomes during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic

Table 1 Trends in discharges, hospital stay in days, and mortality for selected gastrointestinal diseases in California, 2018-2020

GI conditions	2018	2019	2020	Relative change	P for trend
Acute pancreatitis
Total number of discharges, n (%)	26771 (0.8)	26675 (0.8)	23828 (0.8)	-11.0	0.028
Total hospital stays (in thousands) days	109.6	107.6	99.4	-9.3	0.118
Mortality, n (%)	124 (0.5)	134 (0.5)	144 (0.6)	16.1	0.029
Cholelithiasis
Total number of discharges	39473 (1.2)	39710 (1.3)	33215 (1.2)	-15.9	< 0.001
Total hospital stays (in thousands) days	129.1	130.5	107.4	-16.8	0.152
Mortality, n (%)	96 (0.2)	94 (0.2)	81 (0.2)	-15.6	0.994
Diverticulitis
Total number of discharges	16899 (0.5)	16992 (0.5)	13855 (0.5)	-18.0	< 0.001
Total hospital stays (in thousands) days	75.7	76.0	61.5	-18.8	0.495
Mortality, n (%)	77 (0.5)	67 (0.4)	87 (0.6)	13.0	0.042
Noninfectious gastroenteritis/colitis
Total number of discharges	9376 (0.3)	9236 (0.3)	6734 (0.2)	-28.2	< 0.001
Total hospital stays (in thousands) days	27.3	27.8	21.3	-22.0	< 0.001
Mortality, n (%)	31 (0.3)	35 (0.4)	26 (0.4)	-16.1	0.543
Nonvariceal upper GI bleeding
Total number of discharges	32207 (1.0)	33361 (1.1)	29155 (1.0)	-9.5	0.853
Total hospital stays (in thousands) days	125.6	132.6	116.9	-6.9	0.002
Mortality, n (%)	581 (1.8)	604 (1.8)	623 (2.1)	7.2	0.003
Variceal upper GI bleeding
Total number of discharges	1007 (0.0)	880 (0.0)	808 (0.0)	-19.8	0.006
Total hospital stays (in thousands) days	4.0	3.7	3.2	-20.0	0.635
Mortality, n (%)	35 (3.5)	38 (4.3)	39 (4.8)	11.4	0.149
Lower GI bleeding and diverticular bleeding
Total number of discharges	11549 (0.4)	11914 (0.4)	10613 (0.4)	-8.1	0.329
Total hospital stays (in thousands) days	43.4	44.2	40.0	-7.8	0.783
Mortality, n (%)	132 (1.1)	127 (1.1)	100 (0.9)	-24.2	0.145
Clostridium difficile
Total number of discharges	1552 (0.0)	1457 (0.0)	963 (0.0)	-38.0	< 0.001
Total hospital stays (in thousands) days	9.8	9.3	6.3	-35.7	0.532
Mortality, n (%)	17 (1.1)	20 (1.4)	15 (1.6)	-11.8	0.308
Viral gastroenteritis
Total number of discharges	6005 (0.2)	5652 (0.2)	3794 (0.1)	-36.8	< 0.001
Total hospital stays (in thousands) days	17.0	16.0	11.6	-31.8	< 0.001
Mortality, n (%)	15 (0.2)	19 (0.3)	18 (0.5)	20.0	0.066
Crohn’s disease
Total number of discharges	14273 (0.5)	14510 (0.5)	12583 (0.4)	-11.8	0.021
Total hospital stays (in thousands) days	76.6	77.5	70.1	-8.5	0.060
Mortality, n (%)	245 (1.7)	242 (1.7)	276 (2.2)	12.7	0.004
Ulcerative colitis
Total number of discharges	12805 (0.4)	12919 (0.4)	11848 (0.4)	-7.5	0.132
Total hospital stays (in thousands) days	74.7	75.5	70.5	-5.6	0.361

GI: Gastrointestinal.