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General practitioner visits after SARS-CoV-2 omicron compared with the delta variant in children in Norway: a
Sigurd Storehaug Arntzen1, Hege Marie Gjefsen1, Kjetil Elias Telle1
1Cluster for Health Services Research, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Insights
Children infected with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 had fewer primary care visits compared to those infected with the Delta variant. This study analyzed general practitioner (GP) contacts in Norwegian children post-infection.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric infectious diseases
- Public health surveillance
- Epidemiology of respiratory viruses
Background:
- SARS-CoV-2 infection in children increases primary care utilization.
- Differences in healthcare seeking behavior between SARS-CoV-2 variants (Delta vs. Omicron) in pediatric populations are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare general practitioner (GP) contact rates in children infected with the Omicron variant versus the Delta variant.
- To assess healthcare utilization for up to four weeks following SARS-CoV-2 infection in children.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an event study design analyzing GP visits in Norwegian children aged 0-10.
- Employed multivariate logistic regressions, controlling for calendar week, municipality fixed effects, and sociodemographic factors.
- Compared children testing positive for Delta or Omicron variants against a control group (untested or negative tests).
Main Results:
- Children infected with Omicron showed increased GP utilization 1-2 weeks post-infection (ORs 6.7 and 5.5).
- Children infected with Delta exhibited a more pronounced increase in GP utilization (ORs 8.2 and 7.1) during the same period.
- GP utilization returned to pre-infection levels for both variants after two weeks.
Conclusions:
- The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 appears to be associated with lower primary healthcare interactions per infected child compared to the Delta variant.
- Findings suggest potential differences in disease severity or parental concern influencing healthcare seeking behavior between variants.
Background:
SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is followed by an immediate increase in primary care utilisation. The difference in utilisation following infection with the delta and omicron virus variants is unknown.
Objectives:
To study whether general practitioner (GP) contacts were different in children infected with the omicron versus delta variant for up to 4 weeks after the week testing positive.
Setting:
Primary care.
Participants:
All residents in Norway aged 0-10. After excluding 47 683 children with a positive test where the virus variant was not identified as delta or omicron and 474 children who were vaccinated, the primary study population consisted of 613 448 children.
Main Outcome Measures:
GP visits.
Methods:
We estimated the difference in the weekly share visiting the GP after being infected with the delta or omicron variant to those in the study population who were either not tested or who tested negative using an event study design, controlling for calendar week of consultation, municipality fixed effects and sociodemographic factors in multivariate logistic regressions.
Results:
Compared with preinfection, increased GP utilisation was found for children 1 and 2 weeks after testing positive for the omicron variant, with an OR of 6.7 (SE: 0.69) in the first week and 5.5 (0.72) in the second week. This increase was more pronounced for children with the delta variant, with an OR of 8.2 (0.52) in the first week and 7.1 (0.93) in the second week. After 2 weeks, the GP utilisation returned to preinfection levels.
Conclusion:
The omicron variant appears to have resulted in less primary healthcare interactions per infected child compared with the delta variant.
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