Comparative changes in emergency department patient attendance at the pediatric emergency hospital during the first...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Pediatric Emergency Medicine
• Epidemiology

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered healthcare-seeking behaviors.
• Understanding shifts in pediatric emergency department (ED) attendance is crucial for resource allocation and patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comparatively analyze changes in pediatric patient attendance at a major emergency hospital in Lima, Peru.
• To examine sociodemographic factors, patient conditions, insurance types, and diagnoses before and during the pandemic.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of pediatric ED attendance data from epidemiological weeks 10-48 in 2019 and 2020.
• Comparison of patient numbers, origin, condition, insurance, and International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) diagnoses between the two periods.

Main Results:

• A 48.2% overall reduction in pediatric ED visits was observed in 2020 compared to 2019.
• A five-fold increase in visits from outside Metropolitan Lima was noted.
• Probability of diagnoses for infectious/parasitic diseases increased by 27%, while respiratory system diseases decreased by 61%.

Conclusions:

• The COVID-19 pandemic led to a substantial decrease in pediatric emergency visits, with a notable rise in patients from non-metropolitan areas.
• Significant shifts in diagnostic patterns, particularly a decrease in respiratory illnesses, were observed, reflecting pandemic-related changes in disease prevalence and healthcare access.