ArticleBMC pediatrics2022
Disproportionate reduction in respiratory vs. non-respiratory outpatient clinic visits and antibiotic use in children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Outcomes of a Multifaceted Program on Antibiotic Prescribing in Primary Care Among Children Under Three Years of Age.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Analysis of antibiotic prescription in upper respiratory tract infections in children 0-4 years of age in primary care. Impact of age and health care setting.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- Antibacterial consumption before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary care pediatric hospital in Mexico.PloS one · 2025Article
- Atmosphere particulate matter and respiratory diseases during COVID-19 in Korea.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric acute conjunctivitis disease trends.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Leading reasons for antibiotic prescriptions in pediatric respiratory infections: influence of fever in a primary care setting.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2023Observational
- Health Care Utilization During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Individuals Born Preterm.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Antibiotics prescribed for young children fell when COVID-19 restrictions were in place.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic led to improved hygiene and reduced social encounters. Near elimination of the activity of respiratory syncytial virus and influenza viruses were observed, worldwide. Therefore, we assessed the rates of pediatric outpatient clinic visits and medications prescribed at those visits during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and pre-COVID-19 period (2016-2019).
methodsMonthly and annual incidence rates for respiratory and non-respiratory diagnoses and dispensed prescription rates were calculated. Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) visits were analyzed separately since the mode of transmission is influenced by hygiene and social distancing.
resultsOverall, 5,588,702 visits were recorded. Respiratory and AGE visits declined by 49.9% and 47.3% comparing the COVID-19 and pre-COVID-19 periods. The respective rate reductions for urinary tract infections, trauma, and skin and soft tissue infections were 18.2%, 19.9%, and 21.8%. Epilepsy visits increased by 8.2%. Overall visits rates declined by 21.6%. Dispensed prescription rates of antibiotics and non-antibiotics respiratory medications declined by 49.3% and 44.4%, respectively. The respective declines for non-respiratory antibiotics and non-antibiotics were 15.1% and 0.2%. Clinic visits and prescription rates reductions were highest in April-May, following the first lockdown in Israel.
conclusionsCOVID-19 pandemic resulted in a substantial reduction in respiratory outpatient clinic visits and dispensed respiratory drugs, with only a mild reduction seen for non-respiratory visits. These trends were probably driven by COVID-19 mitigation measures and by the profound disruption to non-SARS COV-2 respiratory virus activity.
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