Understanding the environmental factors related to the decrease in Pediatric Emergency Department referrals for acute asthma during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Lockdown measures during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic determined radical changes to behavioral and social habits, that were reflected by a reduction in the transmission of respiratory pathogens and in anthropogenic atmospheric emissions.

Objective

This ecological study aims to provide a descriptive evaluation on how restrictive measures during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic impacted Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) referrals for asthma exacerbations, and their potentially associated environmental triggers in Bologna, a densely populated urban area in Northern Italy.

Methods

Files of children evaluated for acute asthma during 2015 to 2020 at the PED of Sant'Orsola University Hospital of Bologna were retrospectively reviewed. Historical daily concentration records of

SUBMITTER: Dondi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8661783 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature