Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35544725›Full record

ArticleThe Pediatric infectious disease journal2022

Remote Versus In-person Outpatient Clinic Visits and Antibiotic Use Among Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Dana Danino, Shalom Ben-Shimol, Amir Sharf, David Greenberg, Noga Givon-Lavi

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Pediatric infectious disease journal, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 43% of its field
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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Dana DaninoFrom the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.ORCID 0000-0002-4819-3871
Shalom Ben-ShimolFrom the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Amir SharfEconomics and Data Analysis, Clalit HMO South district, Israel.
David GreenbergFrom the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Noga Givon-LaviFrom the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev · ILClalit Health Services · IL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe proportion of remote clinic visits was expected to increase among children during the COVID-19 pandemic which might result in antibiotic overuse.

methodsIn southern Israel, 2 ethnic groups, Jewish and Bedouin, live side-by-side. Computerized data on visits for children <18 years were examined from clinics with ≥50 insured children, active both pre-COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Visits were divided into in-person and remote. Monthly infectious diagnoses and dispensed antibiotic prescription rates were calculated by age (<5, 5-17 years) and ethnic groups. Mean monthly rates of 2 parallel seasons (pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods) were compared.

resultsOverall 2,120,253 outpatient clinic visits were recorded. Remote clinic visit rates (per 1000 children) increased from 97.04 and 33.86 in the pre-COVID-19 to 179.75 and 50.05 in the COVID-19 period in Jewish and Bedouin children, respectively ( P < 0.01) along with a reduction of in-person visit rates in both populations. Comparing pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods, the rates of overall infectious diagnoses in remote visits increased. Nevertheless, dispensed antibiotic prescription rates in remote visits (per 1000 visits) remained unchanged (9.84 vs. 8.67, P = 0.70, in the Jewish population and 14.32 vs. 14.17, P = 1.00, in the Bedouin population in the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods, respectively) with a similar distribution of antibiotic categories.

conclusionsCOVID-19 pandemic resulted in an expansion of remote visits of children <18 years with an increase in infectious diagnoses. However, remote dispensed antibiotic prescription rates remained unchanged. These dynamics were more accentuated in Jewish children, characterized by higher socio-economic conditions, compared to Bedouin children.

Indexed as

COVID-19COVID-19 Drug TreatmentAmbulatory CareAmbulatory Care FacilitiesAnti-Bacterial AgentsChildHumansPandemicsAnti-Bacterial Agents

Identifiers

PMID35544725
PMCPMC9281428
OpenAlexW4280491075

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.