ABSTRACT
Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on children and adolescents with migraine. Method(s): This longitudinal cohort study enrolled children and adolescents with migraine from the Department of Pediatric Neurology at our hospital from January 2017 to June 2021. Self-re-ported data from individual headache diaries were used. The patients were questioned about their headache frequency and intensity, stress, physical activity, changes in mood and sleep, and their school and home lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pediatric Migraine Disability Assessment (Ped-MIDAS) scoring system was applied to assess headache-related disability. Result(s): In total, 325 pediatric migraine patients (mean age 12.8+/-5.6 years, 62.5% female) were included in this study. The average monthly frequency of migraine headaches was 2.17+/-1.32 and 4.62+/-3.29 before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (P<0.001), respectively. The Ped-MIDAS score was obtained for 207 patients both before and during the pandemic, and the total score slightly increased from 13.8 to 14.7 points (P=0.295). Sixty patients (18.5%) showed significantly worsening migraine headaches. Younger age (P=0.017), mood deterioration (P<0.001), sleep problems (P<0.001), increased acute medication use (P=0.010), and larger changes in the Ped-MIDAS score (P=0.002) were significantly associated with worsening headache in the logis-tic regression analysis. Conclusion(s): Headache attacks in children and adolescents with migraine were more frequent during the COVID-19 pandemic than before it. Worsening headaches could be independently at-tributed to younger age, mood deterioration, and poor sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic.Copyright © 2022 Korean Child Neurology Society.
ABSTRACT
In December 2019, a cluster of atypical pneumonia cases were reported in Wuhan, China, and a novel coronavirus elucidated as the aetiologic agent. Although most initial cases occurred in China, the disease, termed coronavirus disease 2019, has become a pandemic and continues to spread rapidly with human-to-human transmission in many countries. This is the third novel coronavirus outbreak in the last two decades and presents an ensuing healthcare resource burden that threatens to overwhelm available healthcare resources. A study of the initial Chinese response has shown that there is a significant positive association between coronavirus disease 2019 mortality and healthcare resource burden. Based on the Chinese experience, some 19% of coronavirus disease 2019 cases develop severe or critical disease. This results in a need for adequate preparation and mobilisation of critical care resources to anticipate and adapt to a surge in coronavirus disease 2019 case-load in order to mitigate morbidity and mortality. In this article, we discuss some of the peri-operative and critical care resource planning considerations and management strategies employed in a tertiary academic medical centre in Singapore in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak.