Andia‑Biraro, IreneBaruch Baluku, JosephOlum, RonaldBongomin, FelixKyazze, Andrew PeterNinsiima, SandraSsekamatte, PhillipKibirige, DavisBiraro, SamuelSeremba, EmmanuelKabugo, Charles2023-11-232023-11-232023Andia-Biraro, I., Baluku, J. B., Olum, R., Bongomin, F., Kyazze, A. P., Ninsiima, S., ... & Kabugo, C. (2023). Effect of COVID-19 pandemic on inpatient service utilization and patient outcomes in Uganda. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 1-10.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-36877-9https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14270/336COVID-19 has had devastating efects on health systems but reports from sub-Saharan Africa are few. We compared inpatient admissions, diagnostic tests performed, clinical characteristics and inpatient mortality before and during the COVID-19 pandemic at an urban tertiary facility in Uganda. We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients admitted at Kiruddu National Referral Hospital in Uganda between January–July 2019 (before the pandemic) and January–July 2020 (during the pandemic). Of 3749 inpatients, 2014 (53.7%) were female, and 1582 (42.2%) had HIV. There was a 6.1% decline in admissions from 1932 in 2019 to 1817 in 2020. There were signifcantly fewer diagnostic tests performed in 2020 for malaria, tuberculosis, and diabetes. Overall, 649 (17.3%) patients died. Patients admitted during the COVID-19 pandemic (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.2, 95% confdence interval [CI] 1.04–1.5, p= 0.018), patients aged≥ 60 years (aOR 1.6, 95% CI 1.2–2.1, p= 0.001), HIV co-infected (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.2–1.9, p < 0.001), and those admitted as referrals (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.2–1.9, p < 0.001) had higher odds of dying. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted inpatient service utilization and was associated with inpatient mortality. Policy makers need to build resilience in health systems in Africa to cope with future pandemics.enArticle