O-8 A comparative study of the spectrum of non-COVID-19 diagnosis among children visiting one of the pediatric primary health center during the COVID-19 pandemic and the immediate pre-pandemic period
Author(s):
A Kumar
Year of Presentation:
2022
Objective: In this study, we look at the impact of the pandemic from a different perspective. We compare the spectrum of non-COVID-19 illnesses which necessitated visit to
a pediatric primary health facility during this pandemic and
the pre-pandemic times.
Methods: This descriptive report is based on a prospective routine clinical audit. Visits during the period April 1st 2020 through January 31st, 2022 were included in this report. Visits during the period April 2018 through March 2020 were used as historical control. The primary outcome was the difference in nature of the primary diagnosis during the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods.
Results: There were 1001 visits during the pandemic compared with 1964 visits during the pre-pandemic period. The proportion of visits from children in the age group 0–5 years during the pandemic (56.7%; 95% CI = 53.6%–59.8%) was significantly lower than the pre-pandemic period (63.3%; 95% CI = 61.1%–65.4%). The number of visits from ARC, Asthma phenotypes, Respiratory infections and AGE were all significantly reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusion: A decline in the visits for routine care which was almost entirely from allergic rhinitis, asthma phenotypes, respiratory infections and gastrointestinal infections during this pandemic, while the visits for other conditions did not change significantly.