Unforeseen changes in seasonality of pediatric respiratory illnesses during the first COVID-19 pandemic year.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To investigate whether the three nationwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdowns imposed in Israel during the full first pandemic year altered the traditional seasonality of pediatric respiratory healthcare utilization.

Methods

Month by month pediatric emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations for respiratory diagnoses during the first full COVID-19 year were compared to those recorded for the six consecutive years preceding the pandemic. Data were collected from the patients' electronic files by utilizing a data extraction platform (MDClone^© ).

Results

A significant decline of 40% in respiratory ED visits and 54%-73% in respiratory hospitalizations during the first COVID-19 year compared with the pre-COVID-19 years were obse

SUBMITTER: Be'er M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9088630 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature