Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department attendances for young people
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department attendances for young people
INTRODUCTION: There are concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic is having an indirect negative impact on young people. We aimed to assess the impact of the pandemic on emergency department (ED) presentations and admissions.
DESIGN: We analysed ED presentations and admissions from a 5-year period (April 2016-February 2021). An interrupted time series analysis was used to estimate the presentations and admissions that would have been seen in year 5 without the pandemic using the data from years 1 to 4. These estimations were used to calculate the difference between the expected and the observed presentations and admissions during the pandemic year.
RESULTS: There were 166 459 presentations over 5 years. There was a 38.1% (95% CI 33.9% to 42.3%) reduction in presentations during the pandemic with no variation by sex, age, deprivation or ethnicity. Largest reductions were associated with children being home schooled rather than with lockdowns. For admissions, there was a 23.4% (17.4% to 29.4%) reduction, less for 5-17 year age group. Infection and asthma/wheeze presentations reduced by around 60% with smaller reductions for mental health and trauma. There was no change for surgical presentations, burns/scolds or allergic reactions. There was an increase in females aged 11-17 years presenting with mental health issues during the pandemic.
CONCLUSIONS: During the pandemic, there was a substantial reduction in both ED presentations and admissions. The differential impact on specific presentations suggests this was due to the impact of social distancing and reduced social mixing rather than widening of health inequality or increased barriers to care.
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04893122.
Adolescent Health, Child Health, Covid-19, Emergency Care
E27
Solanke, Folasade
7de19858-8cd6-48eb-9c63-996816994615
Easton, Stephanie
eb409080-f54f-46c4-a90d-4573d31b14ab
Selby, Anna
42c56613-824c-4829-b04d-640e703beef8
James, David
6607bafb-c9f0-413c-9d41-a8366fbd61a5
Roberts, Graham
ea00db4e-84e7-4b39-8273-9b71dbd7e2f3
1 October 2022
Solanke, Folasade
7de19858-8cd6-48eb-9c63-996816994615
Easton, Stephanie
eb409080-f54f-46c4-a90d-4573d31b14ab
Selby, Anna
42c56613-824c-4829-b04d-640e703beef8
James, David
6607bafb-c9f0-413c-9d41-a8366fbd61a5
Roberts, Graham
ea00db4e-84e7-4b39-8273-9b71dbd7e2f3
Solanke, Folasade, Easton, Stephanie, Selby, Anna, James, David and Roberts, Graham
(2022)
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department attendances for young people.
Archives of Disease in Childhood, 107 (10), .
(doi:10.1136/archdischild-2021-323389).
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: There are concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic is having an indirect negative impact on young people. We aimed to assess the impact of the pandemic on emergency department (ED) presentations and admissions.
DESIGN: We analysed ED presentations and admissions from a 5-year period (April 2016-February 2021). An interrupted time series analysis was used to estimate the presentations and admissions that would have been seen in year 5 without the pandemic using the data from years 1 to 4. These estimations were used to calculate the difference between the expected and the observed presentations and admissions during the pandemic year.
RESULTS: There were 166 459 presentations over 5 years. There was a 38.1% (95% CI 33.9% to 42.3%) reduction in presentations during the pandemic with no variation by sex, age, deprivation or ethnicity. Largest reductions were associated with children being home schooled rather than with lockdowns. For admissions, there was a 23.4% (17.4% to 29.4%) reduction, less for 5-17 year age group. Infection and asthma/wheeze presentations reduced by around 60% with smaller reductions for mental health and trauma. There was no change for surgical presentations, burns/scolds or allergic reactions. There was an increase in females aged 11-17 years presenting with mental health issues during the pandemic.
CONCLUSIONS: During the pandemic, there was a substantial reduction in both ED presentations and admissions. The differential impact on specific presentations suggests this was due to the impact of social distancing and reduced social mixing rather than widening of health inequality or increased barriers to care.
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04893122.
Text
Manuscript - Pandemic paper - ADC TABLE ERROR CORRECTED
- Accepted Manuscript
Text
Manuscript - Pandemic paper - online supplement ADC REVISED
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 8 April 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 12 May 2022
Published date: 1 October 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This work was supported by The University of Southampton Faculty of Medicine. GR is supported by the National Institute of Health Research Southampton Biomedical Research Centre.
Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Keywords:
Adolescent Health, Child Health, Covid-19, Emergency Care
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 457672
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/457672
ISSN: 0003-9888
PURE UUID: 35aee38c-757e-424e-9342-60513d87d0f8
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Date deposited: 14 Jun 2022 17:00
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:36
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Contributors
Author:
Folasade Solanke
Author:
Stephanie Easton
Author:
Anna Selby
Author:
David James
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