O-56 with the pre-pandemic period - a prospective population based study from BarbadosReasons for non-COVID-19 hospitalization among children during the COVID-19 pandemic compared
Author(s):
A Kumar, R King, B Oreiden, K Krishnamurthy
Year of Presentation:
2025
Objective: To compare the non-COVID-19 reasons for
hospitalization among children during the COVID-19 pandemic and comparison this date with pre-pandemic data.
Methods: This is a population based prospective clinical audit of children (Age <16 years) admitted for COVID-19-unrelated illnesses during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Study period extended from April 2018 through March 2022. The primary measured outcome was the primary discharge diagnosis. Other outcome measures were frequency of admissions, frequency of intensive care and number of deaths. Measured outcomes during the pandemic were compared with the corresponding period in the prepandemic period.
Results: There were 1282 non-COVID medical admissions from children during the COVID – 19 pandemic compared to the 2168 admissions during the corresponding months in the immediate pre-pandemic period. This corresponds to a decline of 40.7% (95% CI = 8.1%, 42.9%). Mean monthly admissions from acute respiratory illnesses (acute exacerbation of asthma phenotypes and respiratory tract infections) and acute gastroenteritis were 5.4 (+ 1.8) and 2.6 (+ 0.7) during the pandemic months compared to 35.1 (+ 7.2) and 5.3 (+ 0.8) during the corresponding pre-pandemic months respectively. Both these differences were statically significant (P <0.0001).
Conclusion: There was a significant decline in the admissions from medical illnesses among children and this was almost entirely due to a sharp and significant decline in admissions from acute respiratory illnesses and acute gastroenteritis.