Impact of the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pediatric Emergency Department Attendance in a Tertiary Center in South Italy: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The evidence shows a reduction in pediatric emergency department (PED) flows during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using interrupted time-series analysis, we evaluated the impact of different stages of the pandemic response on overall and cause-specific PED attendance at a tertiary hospital in south Italy. Our methods included evaluations of total visits, hospitalizations, accesses for critical illnesses and four etiological categories (transmissible and non-transmissible infectious diseases, trauma and mental-health) during March-December 2020, which were compared with analogous intervals from 2016 to 2019; the pandemic period was divided into three segments: the "first lockdown" (FL, 9 March-3 May), the "post-lockdown" (PL, 4 May-6 November) and the "second

SUBMITTER: Alongi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10252537 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature