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Changes in pediatric seizure-related emergency department attendances during COVID-19 – A territory-wide observational study

Version 2 2024-06-02, 23:01
Version 1 2023-07-18, 01:23
journal contribution
posted on 2023-07-18, 01:23 authored by TGA Chiu, WCY Leung, Q Zhang, EHY Lau, RWH Ho, HSS Chan, RSK Chang
A territory-wide retrospective observational study was conducted in Hong Kong between January 23 to April 22, 2020 to demonstrate changes in pediatric seizure-related accident and emergency department (A&E) visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parallel periods from 2015 to 2019 were used as control. All-cause A&E attendances in all paediatric age groups decreased significantly during the study period. Seizure-related attendances decreased across all pediatric age-groups in 2020 (RR 0.379, 95% CI 0.245–0.588), with a disproportionately large decrease in the 0–6 years age group (RR 0.303, 95% CI 0.174–0.526) compared with the 7–18 years age group (RR 0.534, 95% CI 0.393–0.719). Decrease in RTI-related A&E attendances was also more drastic in the 0–6 age group. The two time trends are congruent in the 0–6 years but not the 7–18 years age group. Such a trend is suggestive of the usefulness of infection control measures in seizure prevention, especially amongst young children.

History

Journal

Journal of the Formosan Medical Association

Volume

120

Pagination

1647-1651

Location

Singapore

ISSN

0929-6646

eISSN

1876-0821

Language

en

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Issue

8

Publisher

Elsevier BV