ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2022
Increases in Ambulance Call Volume Are an Early Warning Sign of Major COVID-19 Surges in Children.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Changes of public behavior alter weather-dependent strain on emergency medical services.World journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on potential health emergencies in paediatric patients: a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Intra- and Extra-Hospitalization Monitoring of Vital Signs-Two Sides of the Same Coin: Perspectives from LIMS and Greenline-HT Study Operators.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Appropriateness of frequent use of emergency departments: A retrospective analysis in Rome, Italy.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Infectious diseases, including COVID-19, have a severe impact on child health globally. We investigated whether emergency medical service (EMS) calls are a bellwether for future COVID-19 caseloads. We elaborated on geographical hotspots and socioeconomic risk factors. Methods: All EMS calls for suspected infectious disease in the pediatric population (under 18 years of age) in Rhode Island between 1 March 2018 and 28 February 2022 were included in this quasi-experimental ecological study. The first of March 2020 was the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We used the 2020 census tract and the most recent COVID-19 data. We investigated associations between pediatric EMS calls and positive COVID-19 tests with time series analysis and identified geographical clusters using local indicators of spatial association. Economic risk factors were examined using Poisson regression. Results: We included 980 pediatric ambulance calls. Calls during the omicron wave were significantly associated with increases in positive COVID-19 tests one week later (p < 0.001). Lower median household income (IRR 0.99, 95% CI [0.99, 0.99]; p < 0.001) and a higher child poverty rate (IRR 1.02, 95% CI [1.02, 1.02]; p < 0.001) were associated with increased EMS calls. Neighborhood hotspots changed over time. Conclusion: Ambulance calls might be a predictor for major surges of COVID-19 in children.
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