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Pediatric Emergencies and Hospital Admissions in the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Children’s Hospital in Romania

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the pediatric population, particularly on their access to health services. We conducted a retrospective study to assess the influence that the pandemic, and its related containment and mitigation public health measures, had on pediatric emergenci...

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Autores principales: Miron, Victor Daniel, Gunșahin, Deniz, Filimon, Claudiu, Bar, Gabriela, Craiu, Mihai
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9028540/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35455557
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9040513
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author Miron, Victor Daniel
Gunșahin, Deniz
Filimon, Claudiu
Bar, Gabriela
Craiu, Mihai
author_facet Miron, Victor Daniel
Gunșahin, Deniz
Filimon, Claudiu
Bar, Gabriela
Craiu, Mihai
author_sort Miron, Victor Daniel
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the pediatric population, particularly on their access to health services. We conducted a retrospective study to assess the influence that the pandemic, and its related containment and mitigation public health measures, had on pediatric emergencies and hospitalizations in a major tertiary pediatric hospital in Bucharest, Romania, during the first six months of the pandemic, March–August 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. In these first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of pediatric emergencies decreased 2.8-fold compared to the same period in 2019, but the proportion of major emergencies increased significantly (p < 0.001). The number of admissions also decreased 3.3-fold in 2020, compared to 2019, but the risk of admission for lower respiratory tract infections and respiratory failure increased 1.3- and 2.3-fold, respectively. In conclusion, the restrictions imposed by the pandemic containment and mitigation plan not only had a significant impact on reducing emergency department presentations, but also on pediatric admissions in Romania. These data highlight the importance of maintaining optimal access to child health services when confronted with a public health threat, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Active communication with parents, involving general practitioners, pediatricians, and authorities, is essential for managing children with acute signs of illness in the case of future restrictions or lockdown measures.
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spelling pubmed-90285402022-04-23 Pediatric Emergencies and Hospital Admissions in the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Children’s Hospital in Romania Miron, Victor Daniel Gunșahin, Deniz Filimon, Claudiu Bar, Gabriela Craiu, Mihai Children (Basel) Article The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the pediatric population, particularly on their access to health services. We conducted a retrospective study to assess the influence that the pandemic, and its related containment and mitigation public health measures, had on pediatric emergencies and hospitalizations in a major tertiary pediatric hospital in Bucharest, Romania, during the first six months of the pandemic, March–August 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. In these first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of pediatric emergencies decreased 2.8-fold compared to the same period in 2019, but the proportion of major emergencies increased significantly (p < 0.001). The number of admissions also decreased 3.3-fold in 2020, compared to 2019, but the risk of admission for lower respiratory tract infections and respiratory failure increased 1.3- and 2.3-fold, respectively. In conclusion, the restrictions imposed by the pandemic containment and mitigation plan not only had a significant impact on reducing emergency department presentations, but also on pediatric admissions in Romania. These data highlight the importance of maintaining optimal access to child health services when confronted with a public health threat, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Active communication with parents, involving general practitioners, pediatricians, and authorities, is essential for managing children with acute signs of illness in the case of future restrictions or lockdown measures. MDPI 2022-04-05 /pmc/articles/PMC9028540/ /pubmed/35455557 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9040513 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Miron, Victor Daniel
Gunșahin, Deniz
Filimon, Claudiu
Bar, Gabriela
Craiu, Mihai
Pediatric Emergencies and Hospital Admissions in the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Children’s Hospital in Romania
title Pediatric Emergencies and Hospital Admissions in the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Children’s Hospital in Romania
title_full Pediatric Emergencies and Hospital Admissions in the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Children’s Hospital in Romania
title_fullStr Pediatric Emergencies and Hospital Admissions in the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Children’s Hospital in Romania
title_full_unstemmed Pediatric Emergencies and Hospital Admissions in the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Children’s Hospital in Romania
title_short Pediatric Emergencies and Hospital Admissions in the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Children’s Hospital in Romania
title_sort pediatric emergencies and hospital admissions in the first six months of the covid-19 pandemic in a tertiary children’s hospital in romania
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9028540/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35455557
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9040513
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