ArticlePloS one2025
The Covid-19 pandemic in Sweden: Prolonged and unevenly distributed effects on the volume of pediatric anesthesia and surgery demonstrated by data from the Swedish Perioperative Register.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 2 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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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Impact of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Activity: A Seven-Year Retrospective Study from a Romanian Emergency Hospital.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn 2020, Covid-19 pushed Swedish health care to its limits regarding access to hospital beds and staffing. A previous investigation of the effects of the first wave of the pandemic in the spring of 2020 revealed a substantial reduction in elective pediatric surgery. The aim of the present study was to expand this analysis on a national and regional level during almost three years with Covid-19.
methodsFor this retrospective cohort study, routine data from all procedures in patients <16 years of age in 2019-2022 were extracted from the Swedish Perioperative Register. Data were analyzed according to level of care, type of surgery, procedure code and emergency or elective surgery.
resultsDuring 2020-2022, the number of surgeries registered was 19,944 fewer than expected as compared to pre-pandemic levels, i.e., a reduction of about 12%. Elective surgery showed a total reduction of 17% while emergency surgery was unaffected. The most dramatic decrease was found in county hospitals where elective surgery was reduced by 28% and the largest effect was found in Ear, Nose, and Throat/oral surgery (-34%). Patient age at the time of surgery did not show any notable differences in total, except for grommets insertion in 2021 and adenoidectomy in 2021 and 2022 compared to 2019.
conclusionThe Covid-19 pandemic affected the number of surgical procedures in children for more than two years. Future studies of the long-term effects of the large number of canceled operations are warranted.
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