Cozzi G, Molina Ruiz I, Giudici F, Romano S, Grigoletto V, Barbi E, Amaddeo A. Pediatric Emergency Cases in the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary-Level Emergency Setting.
Front Pediatr 2022;
10:918286. [PMID:
35844743 PMCID:
PMC9279893 DOI:
10.3389/fped.2022.918286]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 05/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
AIM
Emergency cases are uncommon events in the pediatric emergency setting. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by describing the number and type of pediatric emergency cases that arrived at the pediatric emergency department (PED) of a tertiary-level children's hospital in Italy.
METHODS
We performed a retrospective study, collecting the main features of pediatric emergency patients who arrived during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020-February 2021) compared to the pre-pandemic period (March 2016-February 2020).
RESULTS
During the study period, 112,168 patients were visited at the PED, and 237 (0.21%) were emergency cases, median age of 4 years (IQR: 1-12). In the first year of the pandemic, 42 children were coded as emergency cases compared to 195 (49/year) during the pre-pandemic period. The proportion of emergency cases was stable (0.27% during the COVID-19 period versus 0.20% during the pre-COVID-19 period, p = 0.19). No differences were found regarding the age, gender, hour of arrival, and outcome of patients. We found a significant decrease in the proportion of emergency cases related to respiratory diseases (9/42, 21.4% during the COVID-19 period versus 83/195 during the pre-COVID-19 period (42.6%), p = 0.01).
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, our data suggest that the pandemic had a more significant impact on respiratory emergency cases than on pediatric emergencies in general.
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