ABSTRACT
We aimed to evaluate the admissions to the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) due to seizures one year before and one year after the first COVID-19 case in Turkey. We divided the admission time into two: The prelockdown period (March 2019-February 2020) and the lockdown period (March 2020 - February 2021). We divided the seizures into six parts: First simple febrile convulsion (FK), first complex FK, recurrent simple FK, recurrent complex FK, first non-febrile seizure, and recurrent non-febrile seizure. We compared the prelockdown and lockdown periods in terms of demographic and clinical characteristics and monthly admission of patients. The total number of patients admitted to PED was 37.323 and 10.191 during the prelockdown and lockdown period, respectively. While seizure-related PED accesses were 918 during the prelockdown period, 508 patients were admitted to PED during the lockdown period. Monthly average admissions decreased in all seizure types during the lockdown period. The ratio of first simple febrile seizures to total seizures decreased from 22.4% (206/918) to 16.3% (83/508), while the ratio of first afebrile seizures to total seizures increased from 29.6% (272/918) to 36.8% (186/508). While the rate of first febrile seizures decreased, we observed a significant increase in the rate of first afebrile seizures. The findings suggested that risk factors such as depression/anxiety or screen exposure may have caused seizures in patients with a predisposition to seizures. Copyright © 2022 Ondokuz Mayis Universitesi. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Since December 2019, 2019 outbreak of coronavirus (Covid-19) spread all over the world as well as in Turkey. In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical and laboratory effects of covid 19 disease on children. The epidemiological, laboratory, radiological, and treatment features of the 30 pediatric patients with covid-19 evaluated retrospectively. The median age of the patients was 10 years, boys and girls ratio was 1.5 (18/12). Of the patients, 80.7% had family contact and 11.5% had comorbidity. The most common symptom was fever (84.6%), and cough was the second frequency (57.7%). All patients except 1 patient had a mild course, 5 were asymptomatic. One patient needed intensive care who had underlying chronic disease. Neutropenia was the most common laboratory anomaly (36.6%). Increased D-dimer levels were observed in 9 patients (30%), decreased leukocyte was in 7 patients (23.3%) and increasedlactate dehydrogenaz level was in 8 patients (26.6%). Chest computed tomography was taken 14 patients who had an abnormal chest X-rays, and ground-glass opacities were seen in 6 patients (20%). Hydroxychlorachine, azithromycin and other antibiotic treatments were given to the necessary patients. The mean PCR negative time in the treated symptomatic group was 8.8 +5.34 day, while in the untreated asymptomatic group 12 + 5.19 day and there was no statistically significant difference (p=0.154). The correlation between PCR negative time and clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings was examined and no correlation was found. In conclusion, pediatric covid 19 is mostly transmitted by family contact and has a mild course if there is no underlying disease. The most common symptoms are fever and cough. Ground glass densities on lung tomography are similar to adult. More conservative approaches may be preferred in children.