Change in pediatric trauma-related visits in a tertiary hospital in Colombia during coronavirus disease 2019 lockdown

Abstract

Purpose During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, Colombian government declared a lockdown, forcing children to stay at home. The authors aimed to analyze the change in the pattern of trauma-related visits during the lockdown. Methods We carried out a retrospective descriptive study on injured children aged 17 years or younger who visited the emergency department of a tertiary pediatric hospital in Bogotá, Colombia from March 15 through May 15, 2019 (control period) and the same period in 2020 (lockdown period). Between the 2 periods, baseline characteristics and injury profiles were compared. Results : Among the study population (n = 1,485), 1,122 and 363 children visited the emergency department during the control and lockdown periods, respectively. In the midst of 73.9% decrease in numbers of overall visits between the 2 periods, a 67.6% decrease was noted in number of trauma-related visits. Regarding the proportions, trauma-related visits increased from 7.9% to 9.8%. During the lockdown, increases occurred in the proportions of the following variables: children younger than 5 years (25.5% to 50.7%; P < 0.001), mechanisms other than blunt, minor fall or traffic accident (e.g., bite, 3.9% to 6.6%; P = 0.032), child abuse (1.2% to 4.1%; P = 0.003), hospitalization (4.6% to 35.8%; P < 0.001), open wound (21.1% to 36.9%; P < 0.001), the use of computed tomography (6.3% to 9.9%; P < 0.001), and abnormal imaging findings (28.8% to 31.7%; P = 0.003). Conclusion During the lockdown, children with trauma may show an increase in overall severity, and also a higher risk of abusive trauma. This finding indicates a sensible need of educating families in prevention of domestic injury.

Keywords

• child
• confined spaces
• covid-19
• quarantine
• wounds and injuries