(O-C3) Emergency Medical Services Activation for Anaphylaxis During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Study from Israel

Objectives: The objective of this study is to compare EMS activation by Israel’s National Prehospital Response Organization- Magen David Adom (MDA) to calls for anaphylactic reactions during the Covid-19 pandemic versus routine times.

Background: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has shouldered one of healthcare’s largest burdens during the Covid-19 pandemic. During the first waves in 2020 and 2021, most EMS services worldwide experienced a decrease in activation. There is little data concerning EMS activation for anaphylaxis during this period.

Methods: This is a retrospective comparative study that assessed data regarding daily emergency calls within Israel for the code “anaphylaxis” between January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2019 (pre-pandemic period) versus January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020 (pandemic period). All data was obtained by the command-and-control database used by MDA.

Results: During the study period, there was a total of 4,089 emergency responses for anaphylaxis with a negligible difference in EMS call volume from 2019 to 2020. There was a significant increase in the frequency of calls requiring an EpiPen between 2019, 5.7%, and 2020, 7.5% (p = 0.02). Age was not found to be a significant variable within this analysis (p=0.15).

Conclusions: The main finding of this study is that the number of anaphylaxis emergencies requiring EMS did not decrease during Covid-19. Specifically, during 2020 the call frequency remained almost equal to the prior routine-time year. However, there was a statistically significant increase in EMS responses requiring EpiPen use during the pandemic. This has important public health implications including maintaining vigilance to avoid potential allergens and keeping an up-to-date EpiPen available.

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Funding (Optional): None