How Has The COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Child Health Tracks?

ABSTRACT

Objective: It is aimed to detect the disruptions experienced in Healthy Child Follow-ups in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Material and Methods: The files of the patients who applied to the Healthy-Child Outpatient Clinic of our hospital from March 14, 2020, when the curfews began in Turkey, until March 31, 2021, were reviewed retrospectively. Results: During this period, 5036 patients applied for healthy-child follow-ups. It was found that 1.44% (n=73) of these patients missed some of their follow-ups. Of these patients, 35.6% were citizens of the Republic of Turkey, 32.9% were Syrian, and 31.5% were Iraqi refugees. 78.1% of the patients were not taking iron prophylaxis. Hip ultrasonography was not performed in 72.6% of the patients. It was found that 80.8% of the patients were missing vaccination and other follow-ups, while 31.5% were only missing vaccination while other follow-ups were complete. It was determined that 38.3% of the patients did not have more than one vaccination, and 12.3% did not have any vaccination since birth due to vaccine rejection. There was no difference between Turkish citizens and Syrian or Iraqi citizens in terms of missing follow-ups (p=0.213). In terms of missing vaccinations, it was determined that Syrian and Iraqi refugees missed more vaccinations (p<0.001). Conclusion: In order to raise healthy children, it is thought that public should be informed about the importance of followups, and patients should be guided without delay in every case of missing follow-ups.