Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Emergency Care Utilization and Outcomes in Pediatric Patients with Intussusception

• Published in: Children (Basel) 2022-02, Vol.9 (2), p.277
• Main Authors: Lee, Jin Hee, Ro, Young Sun, Kwon, Hyuksool, Suh, Dongbum, Moon, Sungwoo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Emergency medical care; Epidemics; Hospitals; Infections; Infectious diseases; Intestinal obstruction; intussusception; Medical diagnosis; Pandemics; Patients; pediatric; Pediatrics; Trends; Variance analysis; Viral infections
• ISSN: 2227-9067; 2227-9067
• DOI: 10.3390/children9020277

We determined whether a decrease in healthcare utilization patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic affected the treatment process of pediatric patients with intussusception. Patients with suspected intussusception who had ICD-10 code K561 as their discharge diagnosis from the national database were selected, and those who underwent either radiologic and/or surgical reduction were defined as true intussusception patients. We compared the time periods from patients visiting the ED to ultrasound, radiologic reduction and/or surgical reduction between the study group (first half of 2020, COVID-19 period) and the control groups (control group 1: first half of 2019, control group 2: second half of 2019). The number of suspected intussusception patients in each group was 1223, 1576, and 624, and the incidence rates were 7.85, 11.30, and 4.19 per 100,000 person-half-years (control group 1, control group 2, study group, respectively, < 0.05). No differences in terms of the time from the ED visit to ultrasound, radiological reduction and/or surgical reduction were noted between the study group and the control groups. In Korea, the COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly affect the ED treatment process or the results of patients with intussusception.