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Multicenter Study
. 2021 Sep 10;18(18):9547.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18189547.

Effects of Relaxed Lockdown on Pediatric ER Visits during SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Italy

Luigi Matera  1 , Raffaella Nenna  1 , Francesca Ardenti Morini  2 , Giuseppe Banderali  3 , Mauro Calvani  4 , Matteo Calvi  5 , Giorgio Cozzi  6 , Raffaele Falsaperla  7 , Roberto Guidi  8 , Ahmad Kantar  9 , Marcello Lanari  10 , Riccardo Lubrano  11 , Beatrice Messini  12 , Antonio Augusto Niccoli  13 , Vincenzo Tipo  14 , Fabio Midulla  1 , On Behalf Of The Cicero Group
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Effects of Relaxed Lockdown on Pediatric ER Visits during SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Italy

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

Abstract

Previously, we demonstrated an 81% reduction in pediatric Emergency Room (ER) visits in Italy during the strict lockdown due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Since May 2020, lockdown measures were relaxed until 6 November 2020, when a strict lockdown was patchily reintroduced. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of the relaxed lockdown on pediatric ER visits in Italy. We performed a retrospective multicenter study involving 14 Italian pediatric ERs. We compared total ER visits from 24 September 2020 to 6 November 2020 with those during the corresponding timeframe in 2019. We evaluated 17 ER specific diagnoses grouped in air communicable and non-air communicable diseases. We recognized four different triage categories: white, green, yellow and red. In 2020 total ER visits were reduced by 51% compared to 2019 (16,088 vs. 32,568, respectively). The decrease in air communicable diseases was significantly higher if compared to non-air communicable diseases (-64% vs. -42%, respectively). ER visits in each triage category decreased in 2020 compared to 2019, but in percentage, white and red codes remained stable, while yellow codes slightly increased and green codes slightly decreased. Our results suggest that preventive measures drastically reduced the circulation of air communicable diseases even during the reopening of social activities but to a lesser extent with regard to the strict lockdown period (March-May 2020).

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; air communicable infections; emergency rooms; lockdown measures; pandemic; pediatric; social activities reopening.

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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
Pediatric ER diagnoses in September–November, 2019 and 2020.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Proportion of pediatric ER diagnoses in September–November, 2019 and 2020.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Triage categories in September–November, 2019 and 2020. This figure shows the breakdown of 100% of ER visits into 4 codes. * p < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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