The Home Accident Cases Presenting to the Pediatric Emergency Department During the Covid-19 Pandemic: What did the Pandemic Change?

Abstract

Objectives: No study evaluating home accident (HAs) cases who applied to the pediatric emergency department (PED) during a pandemic in Turkey. Whether the pandemic caused an increase in the number of presented to PED was investigated. 

Methods: The study was a retrospective cohort study. Applications in a similar quarter in 2019 and 2020 were compared. 

Results: There were 700 and 597 admissions for specified reasons during the specified period in 2019 and 2020, respectively. In 2020, one out of every five (24.43%); in 2019, one out of every ten children (9.46%) was evaluated as HAs. The male/female ratios were similar (p=0.520). The median age in 2020 (36 months) was significantly higher than that in 2019 (33 months) (p=0.010). Percentages of falls, gastric/intestinal foreign bodies, and penetrating stab injuries were significantly higher in those in 2020 (p<0.001). Significant differences were also found regarding diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. During the specified period in 2019, 623 patients (89.5%) were discharged from the PED. The rate of discharge in 2020 (84.9%) was significantly lower. Also, there were considerably more hospitalizations in other wards in 2020 than in 2019 (3.7% vs. 1.0%) (p=0.004). 

Conclusions: The Covid-19 pandemic caused an increase in the number of HAs cases presented to the PED relative to all hospital admissions. The most common type of accident was falls, as in the non-pandemic period. The pandemic caused delays in accessing healthcare services, especially for critically ill patients, more frequent hospitalizations, and a decrease in the rate of discharge from the PED.