Covid-19 outbreak in Norway- Epidemiology, use of health services and handling in the primary health service - CONOPRI

The Covid-19 pandemic is largely handled in the primary health care service via GPs and emergency services. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, organizational changes were made to the healthcare services to ensure infection control and to be able to receive seriously ill Covid-19 patients. Infection control measures, for example, led to the population being asked to contact a GP or emergency room by telephone instead of in person. This may have led to changes in the use of the health service for many patients, such as the fact that some patient groups may have reduced their consumption of health services. There is a need for knowledge about how Covid-19 infected people use the health services as well as different patient processes for these patients, in order to be able to prepare the health services for possible future outbreaks. There is little knowledge about risk factors for serious outcomes among Covid-19 patients in Norway, such as gender, age, socioeconomic and immigrant status, underlying disease and drug use. With regard to drug use, the question is whether this can be of decisive importance for the course of certain risk groups. These are questions that this study can answer using registers, and that very few other countries can answer with the same certainty and just as quickly. The main purpose of the study is to investigate how the Covid-19 pandemic affected the use of health services for all groups of patients. Furthermore, how the health service handled Covid-19 patients, by identifying different patient courses and identifying risk factors for serious illness among Covid-19 patients. The study will link several central health registries to collect data on the use of health services, diagnosis and disease outcomes. The Municipal Patient Register (CPR) contains billing cards from doctors in the primary health service, including a diagnosis. The Norwegian Patient Register (NPR) has information on all admissions to the specialist health service, including a diagnosis. The cause of death register provides information on the date and cause of death. The prescription register provides information about the patient's medication use and the Norwegian intensive care register provides information about intensive care. The National Population Register provides information on age, gender, immigrant status, income and place of residence. We will collect data from 2018 to 2020, with a possible extension until 2021 depending on the duration of the pandemic. By collecting data from two years before the outbreak, changes in patients' use of health services and any changes in diagnoses during the COVID-19 pandemic can be detected. The usefulness of the project is to be able to prepare and plan for future infectious outbreaks and streamline patient management during this and later outbreaks. Findings can be implemented in national guidelines for the primary health service. Knowledge of risk factors for serious or long-term illness can be implemented in decision support systems in both outpatient and general practice.