ECIEN-2020 Study: the effect of COVID-19 on admissions for NON-COVID diseases

Abstract

Introduction: The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has had great effects on health systems worldwide, not only in relation to COVID-19 cases, but also affecting patients with other pathologies.Material and methods: ECIEN-2020 is an observational study conducted in a tertiary referral hospital in Navarra, Spain to describe the effect of COVID-19 in pediatric admissions for NON-COVID diseases. Admissions during March-June 2020 (first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain) are described and compared with the same period in 2019. A sub-analysis was performed delving into epidemiology. Patient characteristics (age, sex, medical history), disease characteristics (symptoms, duration of symptoms, previous consultation in Primary Care Health Center) and admission characteristics (place and average stay) were analyzed.Results: A 33% reduction in the number of admissions was observed, decreasing from 529 in 2019 to 353 in 2020, highlighting a 48% reduction in patients admitted for pulmonary diseases. There were no significant changes in age, average stay, admissions for other reasons, or Intensive Care Unit admissions. Percentage of patients admitted among those seen in the emergency department rose from 5.1% in 2019 to 10.9% in 2020, whereas the total number of consultations in the emergency department decreased a 68%.Conclusions: The pandemic and the measures adopted due to SARS-CoV-2 have significantly decreased pediatric admissions for NON-COVID diseases, especially due to a reduction in hospitalization for respiratory diseases.