Dataset Information

Impact of COVID-19 on primary care contacts with children and young people in England: longitudinal trends study 2015-2020.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The NHS response to COVID-19 altered provision and access to primary care.

Aim

To examine the impact of COVID-19 on GP contacts with children and young people (CYP) in England.

Design and setting

A longitudinal trends analysis was undertaken using electronic health records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) Aurum database.

Method

All CYP aged <25 years registered with a GP in the CPRD Aurum database were included. The number of total, remote, and face-to-face contacts during the first UK lockdown (March to June 2020) were compared with the mean contacts for comparable weeks from 2015 to 2019.

Results

In total, 47 607 765 GP contacts with 4 307 120 CYP were included. GP contacts fell 41% during the first lockdown compared with previous years. Children aged 1-14 years had greater falls in total contacts (≥50%) compared with infants and those aged 15-24 years. Face-to-face contacts fell by 88%, with the greatest falls occurring among children aged 1-14 years (>90%). Remote contacts more than doubled, increasing most in infants (over 2.5-fold). Total contacts for respiratory illnesses fell by 74% whereas contacts for common non-transmissible conditions shifted largely to remote contacts, mitigating the total fall (31%).

Conclusion

During the COVID-19 pandemic, CYP's contact with GPs fell, particularly for face-to-face assessments. This may be explained by a lower incidence of respiratory illnesses because of fewer social contacts and changing health-seeking behaviour. The large shift to remote contacts mitigated total falls in contacts for some age groups and for common non-transmissible conditions.

SUBMITTER: Foley KA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9183461 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Impact of COVID-19 on primary care contacts with children and young people in England: longitudinal trends study 2015-2020.

Foley Kimberley A KA Maile Edward J EJ Bottle Alex A Neale Francesca K FK Viner Russell M RM Kenny Simon E SE Majeed Azeem A Hargreaves Dougal S DS Saxena Sonia S

The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners 20220630 720

<h4>Background</h4>The NHS response to COVID-19 altered provision and access to primary care.<h4>Aim</h4>To examine the impact of COVID-19 on GP contacts with children and young people (CYP) in England.<h4>Design and setting</h4>A longitudinal trends analysis was undertaken using electronic health records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) Aurum database.<h4>Method</h4>All CYP aged <25 years registered with a GP in the CPRD Aurum database were included. The number of total, remo ...[more]

PMID: 35667683

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundCoronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths are rare in children and young people (CYP). The high rates of asymptomatic and mild infections complicate assessment of cause of death in CYP. We assessed the cause of death in all CYP with a positive Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) test since the start of the pandemic in England.Methods and findingsCYP aged <20 years who died within 100 days of laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection between 01 March 2020 and 31 December 2021 in England were followed up in detail, using national databases, surveillance questionnaires, post-mortem reports, and clinician interviews. There were 185 deaths during the 22-month follow-up and 81 (43.8%) were due to COVID-19. Compared to non-COVID-19 deaths in CYP with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, death due to COVID-19 was independently associated with older age (aOR 1.06 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01 to 1.11, p = 0.02) and underlying comorbidities (aOR 2.52 95% CI 1.27 to 5.01, p = 0.008), after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity group, and underlying conditions, with a shorter interval between SARS-CoV-2 testing and death. Half the COVID-19 deaths (41/81, 50.6%) occurred within 7 days of confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection and 91% (74/81) within 30 days. Of the COVID-19 deaths, 61 (75.3%) had an underlying condition, especially severe neurodisability (n = 27) and immunocompromising conditions (n = 12). Over the 22-month surveillance period, SARS-CoV-2 was responsible for 1.2% (81/6,790) of all deaths in CYP aged <20 years, with an infection fatality rate of 0.70/100,000 SARS-CoV-2 infections in this age group estimated through real-time, nowcasting modelling, and a mortality rate of 0.61/100,000. Limitations include possible under-ascertainment of deaths in CYP who were not tested for SARS-CoV-2 and lack of direct access to clinical data for hospitalised CYP.ConclusionsCOVID-19 deaths remain extremely rare in CYP, with most fatalities occurring within 30 days of infection and in children with specific underlying conditions.

Project description:BackgroundThe health visiting service in England leads the government's Healthy Child Programme (HCP) for children under five years. Local authorities and their provider partners deliver this service differently across England.ObjectiveTo describe local authority variation in the delivery of health visiting to children under five years in England (2018-2020).MethodsWe used publicly available statistics on mandated health visiting contacts, and administrative data from the Community Services Dataset (CSDS) on duration, location, and medium of contacts. We mapped population coverage of mandated contacts (new birth visit, 6-8-week review, one-year review, and 2-2½ -year review) and described the frequency and characteristics of mandated and additional contacts across local authorities.ResultsBased on publicly available data, almost all eligible children received their new birth visit, 6-8-week review and one-year review (89%-99%), with substantial variation across local authorities in children receiving the 2-2½ -year review: median 81%, range 33%-98%. Based on CSDS, 80% of local authorities (n=46/57) delivered more additional than mandated contacts: a median of 1.6 additional contacts (range: 0.1-8.5) were delivered for each mandated contact. There was also significant variation in the duration of contacts and the percentage of contacts delivered face-to-face and at home.ConclusionsDespite decreases in funding and workforce since 2015, in 2018-2020, health visiting teams reached nearly all babies and most children face-to-face via mandated contacts, and conducted over one and a half times the number of additional contacts relative to mandated contacts, with variation between local areas. This represents a significant public health infrastructure to support the health and development of babies and children and the wellbeing of their families in the critical period before school. Our study highlights the importance of taking into account additional contacts. Further work is needed to understand variation, including in the way additional contacts are used.

Dataset Information

Impact of COVID-19 on primary care contacts with children and young people in England: longitudinal trends study 2015-2020.

Background

Aim

Design and setting

Method

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Impact of COVID-19 on primary care contacts with children and young people in England: longitudinal trends study 2015-2020.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets