The objective was to characterize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the surgical treatment of female stress urinary incontinence (FSUI) in Brazil.
This study was conducted with population-based data from the Brazilian public health system database.
We obtained data on the number of surgical procedures for FSUI in 2019 (before the coronavirus disease [COVID-19] pandemic), 2020, and 2021 (during the pandemic) in each of the 27 Brazilian states. We included official Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) data on the population, Human Development Index (HDI), and annual per capita income of each state.
A total of 6,718 surgical procedures for FSUI were performed in the Brazilian public health system in 2019. The number of procedures was reduced by 56.2% in 2020, and an additional reduction of 7.2% was seen in 2021. The distribution of procedures by state showed important differences, ranging from 4.4 procedures/1,000,000 inhabitants in Paraíba and Sergipe to 67.6 procedures/1,000,000 inhabitants in Paraná (p<0.01) in 2019. The number of surgical procedures was higher in states with a higher HDI (p=0.0001) and per capita income (p=0.042). The decrease in the number of surgical procedures affected the whole country and its rate did not correlate with HDI (p=0.289) or per capita income (p=0.598).
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the surgical treatment of FSUI in Brazil was significant in 2020 and persisted in 2021. Access to surgical treatment of FSUI varied according to geographic region, HDI, and per capita income, even before COVID-19.
International urogynecology journal. 2023 Feb 22 [Epub ahead of print]
Alexandre Fornari, Luis Gustavo Morato Toledo, Alfredo Felix Canalini, Thulio Bosi Vieira Brandão, Karin Marise Jaeger Anzolch, Roni de Carvalho Fernandes, Jose de Bessa, Cristiano Mendes Gomes
Division of Urology, Santa Casa de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil. ., School of Medical Sciences, Santa Casa de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil., Division of Urology, Rio de Janeiro State University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil., Division of Urology, University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Sao Paulo, Brazil., Division of Urology, Hospital Moinhos de Vento, Rua General Vitorino, 330/1101, Porto Alegre, RS, 90020-170, Brazil., Department of Surgery, State University of Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Brazil.
PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36811634