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COVID-19 related reduction in pediatric emergency healthcare utilization - a concerning trend

Christian Dopfer1, Martin Wetzke1,2,3, Anna Zychlinsky Scharff4

  • 1Department of Pediatric Pneumology, Allergology, and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, D - 30625, Hannover, Germany.

BMC Pediatrics
|September 7, 2020
PubMed

Insights

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a 63.8% decrease in pediatric emergency visits. Parents should still seek care for children during health crises.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Public Health
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted global healthcare systems.
  • Lockdown measures impacted health and healthcare utilization, with limited data on pediatric medicine.
  • The study focuses on the pandemic's effect on pediatric emergency healthcare utilization.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric emergency healthcare utilization.
  • To compare emergency department visits in 2020 during the pandemic with the pre-pandemic period in 2019.

Main Methods:

  • A monocentric, retrospective analysis was conducted.
  • Data included 5,424 pediatric emergency department visits between January 1st and April 19th, 2019 and 2020.
  • Healthcare utilization in 2020 was compared to the same period in 2019.

Main Results:

  • A 63.8% decrease in pediatric emergency visits was observed in the four weeks post-lockdown (26.8 visits/day in 2019 vs. 9.7 in 2020).
  • This decline affected both communicable and non-communicable diseases.
  • A higher proportion of patients under one year old and those requiring hospitalization visited the emergency department during the pandemic.

Conclusions:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant reduction in pediatric emergency department visits.
  • Public health campaigns are necessary to encourage parents to seek timely medical attention for pediatric emergencies during health crises.
Abstract

Keywords:
COVID-19SARS-CoV-2childrenemergency careemergency departmenthealthcare utilizationpandemicpediatric

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