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Multicenter Study
. 2020 Nov 25;17(23):8753.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17238753.

SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Impact on Pediatric Emergency Rooms: A Multicenter Study

Luigi Matera  1 , Raffaella Nenna  1 , Valentina Rizzo  1 , Francesca Ardenti Morini  2 , Giuseppe Banderali  3 , Mauro Calvani  4 , Matteo Calvi  5 , Giorgio Cozzi  6 , Elisabetta Fabiani  7 , Raffaele Falsaperla  8 , Ahmad Kantar  9 , Marcello Lanari  10 , Riccardo Lubrano  11 , Beatrice Messini  12 , Antonio Augusto Niccoli  13 , Pietro Scoppi  14 , Vincenzo Tipo  15 , Fabio Midulla  1
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Impact on Pediatric Emergency Rooms: A Multicenter Study

Luigi Matera et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

From 9 March to 3 May 2020, lockdown was declared in Italy due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Our aim was to evaluate how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and related preventive strategies affected pediatric emergency rooms (ERs) during this period. We performed a retrospective cohort multicenter study, comparing the lockdown period to the corresponding period in 2019. We examined 15 Italian pediatric ERs in terms of visit rates, specific diagnoses (grouped as air communicable diseases and non-air communicable diseases), and triage categories. During the lockdown period, ER admissions decreased by 81% compared to 2019 (52,364 vs. 10,112). All ER specific diagnoses decreased in 2020 and this reduction was significantly higher for air communicable diseases (25,462 vs. 2934, p < 0.001). Considering the triage category, red codes remained similar (1% vs. 1%), yellow codes increased (11.2% vs. 22.3%), and green codes decreased (80.3% vs. 69.5%). We can speculate that social distancing and simple hygiene measures drastically reduced the spread of air communicable diseases. The increase in yellow codes may have been related to a delay in primary care and, consequently, in ER admissions.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; air communicable infections; emergency rooms; lockdown measures; pandemic; pediatric.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pediatric emergency rooms (ERs) included in the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proportion of pediatric ER diagnoses from 9 March to 3 May 2019, and the same period in 2020.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Triage categories from 9 March to 3 May 2019, and the same period in 2020.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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