Presentations of children to emergency departments across Europe and the COVID-19 pandemic: A multinational observational study

by Ruud G. Nijman, Kate Honeyford, Ruth Farrugia, Katy Rose, Zsolt Bognar, Danilo Buonsenso, Liviana Da Dalt, Tisham De, Ian K. Maconochie, Niccolo Parri, Damian Roland, Tobias Alfven, Camille Aupiais, Michael Barrett, Romain Basmaci, Dorine Borensztajn, Susana Castanhinha, Corrine Vasilico, Sheena Durnin, Paddy Fitzpatrick, Laszlo Fodor, Borja Gomez, Susanne Greber-Platzer, Romain Guedj, Stuart Hartshorn, Florian Hey, Lina Jankauskaite, Daniela Kohlfuerst, Mojca Kolnik, Mark D. Lyttle, Patr ícia Mação, Maria Inês Mascarenhas, Shrouk Messahel, Esra Akyüz Özkan, Zanda Pučuka, Sofia Reis, Alexis Rybak, Malin Ryd Rinder, Ozlem Teksam, Caner Turan, Valtýr Stefánsson Thors, Roberto Velasco, Silvia Bressan, Henriette A. Moll, Rianne Oostenbrink, Luigi Titomanlio, in association with the REPEM network (Research in European Pediatric Emergency Medicine) as part of the EPISODES study group BackgroundDuring the initial phase of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, reduced numbers of acutely ill or injured children presented to emergency departments (EDs). Concerns were raised about the potential for delayed and more severe presentations and an increase in diagnoses such as diabetic ketoacidosis and mental health issues. This multinational observational study aimed to study the number of children presenting to EDs across Europe during the early COVID-19 pandemic and factors influencing this and to investigate changes in severity of illness and diagnoses. Methods an...
Source: PLoS Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Source Type: research