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. 2021 Jul 27;8(8):645.
doi: 10.3390/children8080645.

Effect of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Pediatric Patients' Admissions to the Emergency Department in an Italian Orthopedic Trauma Hub

Fabio Verdoni  1 , Martina Ricci  2 , Cristina Di Grigoli  2 , Nicolò Rossi  2 , Michele Davide Maria Lombardo  2 , Domenico Curci  1 , Riccardo Accetta  1 , Marco Viganò  1 , Giuseppe Maria Peretti  1   3 , Laura Mangiavini  1   3
Affiliations

Effect of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Pediatric Patients' Admissions to the Emergency Department in an Italian Orthopedic Trauma Hub

Fabio Verdoni et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: The rapid diffusion of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Northern Italy led the Italian government to dictate a national lockdown from 12 March 2020 to 5 May 2020. The aim of this observational cohort study is to analyze the differences in the number of pediatric patients' admission to the Emergency Room (ER) and in the type and causes of injury.

Methods: The pediatric population during the pandemic was compared to a similar group of patients admitted to the ER in 2019. Sex, age, triage color-code at admission, cause of trauma and presence of symptoms related to COVID-19 infection, discharge diagnosis and discharge modes were investigated.

Results: The lockdown period led to a reduction of 87.0% in ER admissions with a particular decrease in patients older than 12 years old. Moreover, a trend towards more severe codes and an increase in home-related injuries were observed during the pandemic, whereas the diagnosis of fracture was less frequent in the pre-pandemic group (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: A significant decrease in the ER attendances was reported during the lockdown. A shift in the cause and type of injury was observed; only the most serious traumas sought medical care with a higher percentage of severe triage codes and fractures.

Keywords: COVID-19; ER admissions; outbreak; pediatric fractures; pediatric injuries; pediatric trauma HUB.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Triage code at ER admission: differences between NG and PG. Legend: NG: Non-pandemic Group PG: Pandemic Group.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Most frequent diagnosis: differences between NG and PG. * = statistically significant difference. Legend: NG: Non-pandemic Group PG: Pandemic Group.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Place of traumas, differences between NG and PG. * = statistically significant difference, p < 0.0001. Legend: NG: Non-pandemic Group PG: Pandemic Group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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