Where have the children with epilepsy gone? An observational study of seizure-related accesses to emergency department at the time of COVID-19.
Seizure
; 83: 38-40, 2020 Dec.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1023744
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
The COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown measures drastically changed health care and emergency services utilization. This study evaluated trends in emergency department (ED) access for seizure-related reasons in the first 8 weeks of lockdown in Italy.METHODS:
All ED accesses of children (<14 years of age) at two university hospitals, in Turin and Rome, Italy, between January 6, 2020 and April 21, 2020, were examined and compared with the corresponding periods of 2019.RESULTS:
During the COVID-19 lockdown period (February 23-April 21, 2020), there was a 72 % decrease in all pediatric ED accesses over the corresponding 2019 period (n = 3,395 vs n = 12,128), with a 38 % decrease in seizure-related accesses (n = 41 vs n = 66). The observed decrease of seizure-related ED accesses was not accompanied by significant changes in age, sex, type of seizure, or hospitalization rate after the ED visit.CONCLUSION:
The COVID-19 lockdown was accompanied by a sudden decrease in seizure-related hospital emergency visits. School closure, social distancing, reduced risk of infection, and increased parental supervision are some of the factors that might have contributed to the finding.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Seizures
/
Emergency Service, Hospital
/
Epilepsy
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Seizure
Journal subject:
Neurology
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
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