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Citation
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Chong SL, Soo JSL, Allen JCJ, Ganapathy S, Lee KP, Tyebally A, Yung CF, Thoon KC, Ng YH, Oh JY, Teoh OH, Mok YH, Chan YH. BMC Pediatr. 2020; 20(1): e562. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted the provision of health services in all specialties. We aim to study the impact of COVID-19 on the utilization of pediatric hospital services including emergency department (ED) attendances, hospitalizations, diagnostic categories and resource utilization in Singapore.
METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of ED attendances and hospital admissions among children < 18 years old from January 1st to August 8th 2020 in a major pediatric hospital in Singapore. Data were analyzed in the following time periods: Pre-lockdown (divided by the change in Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) level), during-lockdown and post-lockdown. We presented the data using proportions and percentage change in mean counts per day with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
RESULTS: We attended to 58,367 children with a mean age of 5.1 years (standard deviation, SD 4.6). The mean ED attendance decreased by 331 children/day during lockdown compared to baseline (p < 0.001), attributed largely to a drop in respiratory (% change - 87.9, 95% CI - 89.3 to - 86.3, p < 0.001) and gastrointestinal infections (% change - 72.4, 95%CI - 75.9 to - 68.4, p < 0.001). Trauma-related diagnoses decreased at a slower rate across the same periods (% change - 40.0, 95%CI - 44.3 to - 35.3, p < 0.001). We saw 226 children with child abuse, with a greater proportion of total attendance seen post-lockdown (79, 0.6%) compared to baseline (36, 0.2%) (p < 0.001). In terms of ED resource utilization, there was a decrease in the overall mean number of procedures performed per day during the lockdown compared to baseline, driven largely by a reduction in blood investigations (% change - 73.9, 95%CI - 75.9 to - 71.7, p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: We highlighted a significant decrease in infection-related presentations likely attributed to the lockdown and showed that the relative proportion of trauma-related attendances increased. By describing the impact of COVID-19 on health services, we report important trends that may provide guidance when planning resources for future pandemics.
Language: en |