Increased rate of significant findings on brain MRI during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the proportion of abnormal paediatric neuroimaging findings as a surrogate marker for potential underutilisation. METHODS: Consecutive paediatric brain MRIs performed between March 27th and June 19th 2019 (T(baseline)) and March 23rd and June 1st 2020 (T(pandemic)) were reviewed and classified according to presence or absence and type of imaging abnormality, and graded regarding severity on a 5-point Likert scale, where grade 4 was defined as abnormal finding requiring non-urgent intervention and grade 5 was defined as acute illness prompting urgent medical intervention. Non-parametric statistical testing was used to assess for significant differences between T(pandemic) vs. T(baseline). RESULTS: Fewer paediatric MRI brains were performed during T(pandemic) compared to T(baseline) (12.2 vs 14.7 examinations/day). No significant difference was found between the two time periods regarding sex and age (T(baseline): 557 females (44.63%), 7.95 ± 5.49 years, T(pandemic): 385 females (44.61%), 7.64 ± 6.11 years; p = 1 and p = .079, respectively). MRI brain examinations during T(pandemic) had a higher likelihood of being abnormal, 41.25% vs. 25.32% (p<.0001). Vascular abnormalities were more frequent during T(pandemic) (11.01% vs 8.01%, p = .02), congenital malformations were less common (8.34% vs 12.34%, p = .004). Severity of MRI brain examinations was significantly different when comparing group 4 and group 5 individually and combined between T(baseline) and T(pandemic) (p = .0018, p < .0001, and p <.0001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The rate of abnormality and severity found on paediatric brain MRI was significantly higher during the early phase of the pandemic, likely due to underutilisation.