Injuries in the time of COVID-19.

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Emergency Medicine
• Public Health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Previous pandemics, like SARS in 2003, saw reduced pediatric emergency department (ED) visits.
• The COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique global health crisis with widespread public health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if pediatric injury-related ED visits decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
• To compare the 2020 decrease in injury visits to historical data (1993-2019) for unprecedented trends.

Main Methods:

• Utilized 28 years of injury-related ED visit data from the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP).
• Compared a two-month period during the COVID-19 lockdown (March 16 - May 15, 2020) with the same periods in previous years (1993-2019).
• Analyzed data for different age groups, injury types, mechanisms, and severity.

Main Results:

• The decrease in pediatric injury-related ED visits in 2020 was unprecedented across all age groups from 1993-2019.
• The largest decrease was observed in adolescents aged 12-17 years (83%), while the smallest was in children aged 2-5 years (35%).
• Motor vehicle collisions and sports injuries drastically reduced; however, less urgent injuries increased among children aged 6-17 years.

Conclusions:

• The COVID-19 lockdown significantly deterred pediatric ED visits for injuries, mirroring patterns seen during the 2003 SARS pandemic.
• The impact of the de-confinement period on injury-related ED visits requires ongoing monitoring for short- and long-term effects.