Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35158262›Full record

ArticleThe American journal of emergency medicine2022

The impact of COVID-19 on the patterns of emergency department visits among pediatric patients.

Seonji Kim, Young Sun Ro, Sung-Keun Ko, Taehui Kim, Yun-Suk Pak, So-Hyun Han, Sungwoo Moon

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The American journal of emergency medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Seonji KimNational Emergency Medical Center, National Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: seonji0316@nmc.or.kr.
Young Sun RoNational Emergency Medical Center, National Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Emergency Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Laboratory of Emergency Medical Services, Seoul National University Hospital Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: Ro.youngsun@gmail.com.
Sung-Keun KoNational Emergency Medical Center, National Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: skko@nmc.or.kr.
Taehui KimNational Emergency Medical Center, National Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: thkim@nmc.or.kr.
Yun-Suk PakNational Emergency Medical Center, National Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: yunsuk.pak@nmc.or.kr.
So-Hyun HanNational Emergency Medical Center, National Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: peacehoi@nmc.or.kr.
Sungwoo MoonNational Emergency Medical Center, National Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Emergency Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: sungwoo.moon89@gmail.com.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThis study aimed to investigate the patterns of pediatric patients visiting emergency departments (EDs) before and after the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluate the interactive effect between the COVID-19 outbreak and age groups.

methodsWe performed a cross-sectional study using the nationwide emergency patient database in Korea from January 2019 to December 2020. Pediatric patients (≤18 years) who visited all 402 nationwide EDs were included. The age- and sex-standardized incidence rates of pediatric ED visits per 1,000,000 person-days were calculated, and the incidence rate ratio (IRR) was calculated. The adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of in-hospital mortality were calculated by a multivariable logistic regression.

resultsAmong 2,808,756 patients, 1,835,045 (65.3%) patients visited before COVID-19, and 973,711 (34.7%) patients visited after the COVID-19 period. The standardized incidence rates of ED visits per 1,000,000 person-days were 589.3 in the before COVID-19 group and 326.9 in the after COVID-19 group (IRR (95% CI): 0.55 (0.53-0.58)). By diagnosis, the IRRs (95% CI) of mental health disorders (0.84 (0.42-1.65)) and self-harm or suicidal attempts (0.99 (0.38-2.59) were not significant, while the incidence rate of infectious disease was significantly decreased (0.48 (0.42-0.54)). The aOR (95% CI) of in-hospital mortality after COVID-19 was 1.58 (1.44-1.73) compared to that before COVID-19.

conclusionsDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence of pediatric ED visits decreased, and these effects differed by age group. Age-specific policies are needed to ensure that children receive the care they need at the right time.

Indexed as

COVID-19ChildCross-Sectional StudiesEmergency Service, HospitalHumansPandemicsRetrospective StudiesCOVID-19Emergency department utilizationPediatrics

Identifiers

PMID35158262
PMCPMC8820089

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.