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J Pediatr Infect Dis
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1801300
Original Article

The COVID-19 Pandemic's Impact on General Pediatric Ward Admissions: A Single-Center Study

Ashwaq AlEed 
1   Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
,
Abdullrahman Alsalamah
2   Department of Pediatrics, King Saud Hospital, Unaizah, Saudi Arabia
,
Abdulaziz O. Alharbi
3   Department of Pediatrics Gastroenterology, King Saud Hospital, Unaizah, Qassim, Saudi Arabia
,
Ahmad Alrashedi
4   Department of Emergency Medicine, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
5   Department of Emergency Medicine, Albadai General Hospital, Qassim, Saudi Arabia
,
Abdullah Al-Nafeesah
1   Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
,
Osama Al-Wutayd
6   Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
,
Manal A. Al-Batanony
6   Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
7   Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Menofia University, Menofia Governorate, Egypt
› Author Affiliations Funding The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.
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Abstract

Objective A decline in health care utilization and hospital admissions resulted from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, severely affecting many aspects of life. In this study, we sought to evaluate the pandemic impact on general pediatric admissions by comparing the 1-year prepandemic period.

Methods From the hospital records, all pediatric admissions from the beginning of March 2020 to the end of February 2021 and the corresponding period in 2019 to 2020 were included in this descriptive study.

Results A total of 4,179 hospitalizations met the study's inclusion criteria; 2,778 occurred before the pandemic and 1,401 occurred during the pandemic. The total pediatric hospitalizations decreased by 49.6% during the pandemic compared with before. Asthma (p-value < 0.001), acute bronchiolitis (p-value = 0.01), upper respiratory tract infections (p-value < 0.001), and delivery-related disorders (p-value = 0.01) all showed substantial significant decreases during the pandemic period compared with the prepandemic era.

Conclusion The decline in the overall hospitalization rate reflected the fear of contracting COVID-19 in an unsafe hospital environment. Concurrently, the incidence of communicable diseases fell due to pandemic-related lockdowns, hand hygiene issues, and school closures. While social distancing is highly recommended to protect children's health, public health officials must keep reminding parents not to defer necessary care since pediatric services remain accessible and unaffected during these difficult times.

Keywords

coronavirus infection - pediatric - hospitalization - general wards - pandemic

Consent to Participate

Informed consent was waived by the Regional Research Ethics Committee in Qassim region because all data was collected anonymously.


Data Availability

Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.


Authors' Contributions

A.A.-E., A.A., and O.A.-W.: Conceptualization, data curation, and revising the first draft of the manuscript. A.A. and A.A.: Conceptualization and data curation. A.A., A.A., and O.A.-W.: Writing the first draft of the manuscript. M.A.-B.: Conceptualization, data curation, and formal analysis. All authors approved the final draft of the manuscript.




Publication History

Received: 25 May 2024

Accepted: 01 December 2024

Article published online:
26 December 2024

© 2024. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Oswald-Hesse-Straße 50, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

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