Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Headache Evaluations in the Pediatric Emergency Department.

Autor: Cappellari AM; Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: alberto.cappellari@policlinico.mi.it., Margiotta S; Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy., Bruschi G; Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy., Alicandro G; Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy; Cystic Fibrosis Centre, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy., Castellazzi ML; Pediatric Emergency Department, Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy., Rocchi A; Pediatric Emergency Department, Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy., Venturelli E; Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy., Bertolozzi G; Pediatric Emergency Department, Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Pediatric neurology [Pediatr Neurol] 2022 Dec; Vol. 137, pp. 49-53. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Sep 17.
DOI: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2022.08.008
Abstrakt: Background: To evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on evaluations in the pediatric emergency department (ED) because of headache as main symptom.
Methods: Number and clinical features of patients evaluated in the pediatric ED of a single site in Milan, Italy, were collected between January 2017 and January 2022. The impact of COVID-19 on evaluation rates was quantified by using the incidence rate ratio (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) between the pandemic (March 2020 to January 2022) and the prepandemic period (January 2017 to February 2020).
Results: During the study period, 890 evaluations were registered: 689 over the prepandemic period and 201 over the pandemic period. Mean age at evaluation was 10 years (range: 1 to 17 years). Evaluation rates per month were 18.1 during the prepandemic period and 8.7 during COVID-19 pandemic, with peaks in autumn and winter months and considerable drops in the summer. The IRR was 0.49 (95% CI, 0.40-0.61). The reduction in evaluation rate was higher for secondary headache (IRR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.23-0.42) when compared with primary headache (IRR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.40-0.78).
Conclusions: We found a remarkable reduction in the number of evaluations in the pediatric ED for headache during the pandemic period.
(Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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