The beggining of COVID-19 pandemic in pediatric emergency departments – reports from Croatia and rest of the world

ABSTRACT

Aim:To define the effect of the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric emergency departments. Materials and methods: The search od PubMed and Web of Science databases was done with predefined parameters. A review of published literature concerning the characteristics and number of visits to pediatric emergency departments globally during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic was performed. Results: Out of 176 original scientific reports, 25 made the inclusion criteria of this review. 18 countries were included with Canada, USA and Italy producing the most eligible reports (n=3). All the studies compared the pandemic to pre-pandemic data, and all showed a significant reduction in number of visits to the pediatric emergency departments. The number of hospitalizations mostly correlated with the decrease in number of visits. The reduction in number of visits in all studies was due to infectious diseases. There was no notable increase in life-threatening conditions. Conclusions: COVID-19 pandemic directly contributed to the significant reduction in number of visits to the pediatric emergency departments across the world. The general reduction in visits was mostly due to reduction in infectious diseases. Main theorized reasons are increased hygiene, reduced population mobility and fear of catching COVID-19. © 2022 Hrvatski Lijecnicki Zbor. All rights reserved.