COVID-19 Associated Contact Restrictions in Germany: Marked Decline in Children's Outpatient Visits for Infectious Diseases without Increasing Visits for Mental Health Disorders.

ABSTRACT: Children have a low risk for severe COVID-19 infections, but indirect consequences of the pandemic may affect their health. We evaluated nationwide data on children's outpatient visits before and during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Data from the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians for all children with statutory health insurance and at least one physician's office visit between January 2019 and June 2020 were evaluated for total visits and selected diagnoses for the 2nd quarter of 2019 (8.29 million children, controls) and the 2nd quarter of 2020 (8.5 million, pandemic). Outpatient visits per child fell by 18% during the first wave of the pandemic. Outpatient visits associated with diagnosed infections fell markedly by 51%, particularly for

SUBMITTER: Barschkett M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8471230 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature