Introduction:

in order to limit the contagion of COVID-19, home confinement and the application of sanitary measures were necessary, which had an effect in the emergency services.

Objective:

to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the frequency of patient care in a pediatric emergency department.

Material and methods:

retrospective study in a private hospital in Mexico, in which two periods were analyzed: pre-pandemic (2019-2020) and during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021). In these two periods, the frequency of emergency medical consultations provided to children and adolescents was compared. The information is broken down by month and by type of illness: infectious, non-infectious, and due to accidents.

Results:

in the pre-pandemic period, 5,905 consultations were provided, and 2,384 during the pandemic (59.6% reduction), without differences with respect to age group and sex. When analyzing according to the month, it was observed that, compared to December 2019, in December 2020 there was the greatest reduction (70% decrease). Consultations for infectious causes were reduced by 74.4%, non-infectious ones by 25.3%, and accidents by 51.4%. Consultations for real urgency decreased by 64.5%, while felt urgency decreased by 55.2%.

Conclusions:

COVID-19 pandemic decreased emergency care consultations for pediatric patients, particularly due to infectious diseases.

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