Turkish Archives of Pediatrics
Original Article

What Has Changed in Injury-Related Presentations During COVID-19 Pandemic? A Single-Center Experience from a Pediatric Emergency Department

1.

Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Emergency, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey

2.

Department of Pediatrics, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey

Turk Arch Pediatr 2022; 57: 453-458
DOI: 10.5152/TurkArchPediatr.2022.22032
Read: 939 Downloads: 338 Published: 01 July 2022

Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic affected the healthcare systems worldwide. In this study, we aimed to examine the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on injury-related visits.

Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 7648 injury-related pediatric emergency department visits between March 11 and June 30, 2018, 2019, and 2020, and com- pared the total number of visits, triage levels, distributions of injury mechanisms, and admission rates during the pandemic in 2020 to the same period in 2018 and 2019.

Results: In the first 4 months of the pandemic, there was a 69.5% drop in all pediatric emer- gency department visits compared to the previous 2 years. Despite this decrease, the propor- tion of injury-related pediatric emergency department visits increased from 14% to 20.9% in 2020 (P < .001). There was a 3.8% increase in the frequencies of patients with high triage acuity levels (T1, T2, and T3) and a 3.8% decrease in patients with low triage acuity levels (P < .001). The domestic injury rate increased from 40% to 60% during the pandemic period (P < .001). Hospitalization rates increased from 6% to 11.5% and admission to intensive care units increased from 0.9% to 3.3%. The differences were statistically significant (P < .001). Visits due to burn increased from 2.7% to 5.2% (P < .001), poisoning from 3.4% to 5.5% (P < .001), bicycle accidents from 3.3% to 6.8% (P < .001), while injuries due to motor vehicle accidents decreased from 2.6% to 1.3% (P = .004) and sports injuries decreased from 8% to 2.1% (P < .001).

Conclusion: This study revealed that despite the significant decrease in total pediatric emer- gency department visits, percentages of injury-related visits increased during the pandemic.

Cite this article as: Aydın O, Hanalıoğlu D, Ünal B, et al. What has changed in injury-related presentations during COVID-19 pandemic? A single-center experience from a pediatric emergency department. Turk Arch Pediatr. 2022;57(4):453-458.

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