The New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT) at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) put the province's COVID-19 response under the microscope in a retrospective report, reflecting on data gathered from health authorities during the pandemic.
The report, called The Effects of COVID and Related Restrictions on Health Service Use in New Brunswick, looked at data from sources such as physician billing, vital statistics and discharge abstract data in both Horizon and Vitalité healthcare networks.
Notably, the report found that the healthcare system bounced back quickly from the disruption, and that the restrictions started a culture shift towards alternative health care avenues like telehealth.
The overall trend across the many variables the report explored from the number of emergency room visits, hospital admissions, to surgeries performed and more was that there was a sharp decline in the use of these services at the start of the pandemic, but that usage rates had largely returned to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the four-year study period from 2019 to 2022.
"We did see a slight decline in mortality risk," said Ted McDonald, director of NB-IRDT and principal investigator of the report.
"On the surface it might look a bit odd, but it might have been because of lower incidence of other conditions like influenza. Measures aimed at slowing spread during the pandemic such as masking, lockdowns and the two-week quarantine for travelers, could have shielded at-risk populations from those illnesses as well. However, more research is needed to see if that was in fact the case."
Another measure considered in the report was the prioritization of continued cancer treatment. Those already diagnosed and undergoing treatment in N.B. did not experience a disruption in that treatment due to COVID measures.
On the flipside, the data showed that cancer screening and diagnosis did slow down significantly during the peak of the stay at home' part of the pandemic, early in 2020.
"The decline in cancer screening rates at the start of the pandemic could be attributed to system-level reallocation of resources as well as individual-level apprehensions about exposure to COVID.
"Either way, this decline raises concerns about delayed cancer diagnoses and the potential impact this could have on long-term health outcomes," the report said. As more data becomes available, any impacts on these outcomes can be identified.
Looking at two different sets of data from the two health authorities in N.B. also gave researchers perspective on how the province's French and English communities reacted to this event.
"We saw different patterns between the health authorities and across health zones, but their experiences were similar throughout the COVID disruption," McDonald said.
Some of the culture changes that came with COVID measures persisted after the end of those measures.
"The increase in the use of Telehealth remains high," McDonald explained of the phone-based access tool for at home healthcare.
"Those kinds of alternative measures for accessing primary care, as they became available, they were embraced, and people are still using them."
The report found an over 92 per cent increase in the use of Telehealth services since December 2019.
"Now that we're a few years removed from the peak of the pandemic, we still have a shortage of primary care doctors, people are still using those alternative care methods, and others such as eVisitNB, because they continue to be available."
As for the provincial government, it has taken note of the report's findings to better prepare for potential future events.
McDonald said reflecting on the successes and missteps of the COVID response is an important exercise.
"One of the big questions is: are there any lasting effects?" he said, citing the delay in cancer screenings as potentially yielding more cancer diagnoses at later stages, further down the road.
"There's still interest in if there's any long-term implications, but based on what we saw, this bounce back in access to services, that was fairly quick," he said.
"These results are encouraging, but future work is required. In the meantime, this study can help inform strategies to enhance healthcare system resilience. "
