Trends of hospitalized cases of children′s hospitals in China before and after COVID-19 / 中华医院管理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the number of hospitalization and the disease spectrum of children′s hospitals in China, so as to provide scientific basis for improving the epidemic response policy of children′s hospitals and restoring hospital operations.Methods:Discharged patients from 27 children′s hospitals from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020, were selected from the FUTang Updating medical Records(FUTURE) Database. The ratio of discharge number in 2020 to that in 2019 was calculated. Age groups, disease types, and discharge months were further divided to calculate the ratio of discharge numbers under different conditions.Results:The total number of discharged patients in 2020 was 76.76% of the total number in 2019. In terms of discharge time, the ratio rose slowly from the lowest values in February and March, and reached about 90% of the same period of 2019 at the end of 2020. In terms of age, the biggest change in the discharge number was among children aged 1-3 years, which was 71.87% in 2019. In terms of disease classifications, respiratory diseases changed the most in the number of discharged patients in 2020, accounting for 56.03% of that in 2019. The top five hospitalized diseases of children did not change, while the other ranks changed slightly.Conclusions:COVID-19 has a huge and lasting impact on the number of hospitalizations in children′s hospitals, and the hospitals should develop multiple approaches such as online medical care to cope with the long-term negative impact of the pandemic.