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Analysis of institutional authors

Gil Prieto, RuthAuthorGil De Miguel, ángelAuthorGarcia-Carretero, RafaelCorresponding AuthorVazquez-Gomez, OscarAuthor

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July 31, 2023
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Hospitalization burden and epidemiology of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain (2020-2021)

Publicated to:Bmc Infectious Diseases. 23 (1): 476- - 2023-07-18 23(1), DOI: 10.1186/s12879-023-08454-y

Authors: Garcia-Carretero, Rafael; Vazquez-Gomez, Oscar; Gil-Prieto, Ruth; Gil-de-Miguel, Angel

Affiliations

Rey Juan Carlos Univ, Dept Prevent Med & Publ Hlth, Madrid, Spain - Author
Rey Juan Carlos Univ, Mostoles Univ Hosp, Dept Internal Med, Madrid, Spain - Author

Abstract

BackgroundSpain had some of Europe's highest incidence and mortality rates for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Here we describe the epidemiology and trends in hospitalizations, the number of critical patients, and deaths in Spain in 2020 and 2021.MethodsWe performed a descriptive, retrospective, nationwide study using an administrative database, the Minimum Basic Data Set at Hospitalization, which includes 95-97% of discharge reports for patients hospitalized in Spain in 2020 and 2021. We analyzed the number of hospitalizations, admissions to intensive care units, and deaths and their geographic distribution across regions of Spain.ResultsAs of December 31, 2021, a total of 498,789 patients (1.04% of the entire Spanish population) had needed hospitalization. At least six waves of illness were identified. Men were more prone to hospitalization than women. The median age was 66. A total of 54,340 patients (10.9% of all hospitalizations) had been admitted to the intensive care unit. We identified 71,437 deaths (mortality rate of 14.3% among hospitalized patients). We also observed important differences among regions, with Madrid being the epicenter of hospitalizations and mortality.ConclusionsWe analyzed Spain's response to COVID-19 and describe here its experiences during the pandemic in terms of hospitalizations, critical illness, and deaths. This research highlights changes over several months and waves and the importance of factors such as vaccination, the predominant variant of the virus, and public health interventions in the rise and fall of the outbreaks.

Keywords

Administrative health dataAdolescentAdultAge distributionAgedArticleBasic data setControlled studyCoronavirus disease 2019Covid-19Critical illnessCritically ill patientData baseDeathDisease burdenFemaleGeographic distributionHealth careHospital admissionHospital dischargeHospitalizationHumanHumansIncidenceInformation processingIntensive care unitMajor clinical studyMaleMiddle agedMinimumMortality ratePandemicPandemicsPopulation researchRetrospective studiesRetrospective studySars-cov-2Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2Sex differenceSpain

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Bmc Infectious Diseases due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2023, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Infectious Diseases.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 2.79. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 2.41 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 20.29 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-04, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 12
  • Scopus: 13
  • Europe PMC: 8

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-04:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 23.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 23 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 26.2.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 37 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (García Carretero, Rafael) and Last Author ().

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been García Carretero, Rafael.