Urology Annals (Jan 2021)

Pediatric urology surgical practice in the time of COVID-19: Results from tertiary Saudi Arabia hospitals

  • Ali Abdel Raheem,
  • Omaya Banihani,
  • Abdelazim Abasher,
  • Abdulhakim Alotay,
  • Fahad A Alyami,
  • Tamer A Alsaad,
  • Naif Alqarni,
  • Ossamah Alsowayan,
  • Yasser A Jamalalali,
  • Mohammad Alhuwaiti,
  • Maha Al-Madi,
  • Subbhy Abo Rubeea,
  • Hossam Aljallad,
  • Ahmed Elhelaly,
  • Abdullah Alroumaih,
  • Faisal Almutairi,
  • Abdulwahab E Alhams,
  • Abdullrhman Alayad,
  • Ahmad Alshammari

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/UA.UA_130_20
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 4
pp. 397 – 404

Abstract

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Purpose: Our study aimed to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on pediatric urology practice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Methods: Data of 10 tertiary hospitals in KSA were retrospectively analyzed. Data of outpatient department (OPD) visits and pediatric urology surgical procedures from January 1, 2019, to April 30, 2019, and from January 1, 2020, to April 30, 2020, were extracted. The primary outcome was to compare OPD visits and pediatric urology workload in the first third of 2020 versus 2019, where there was no curfew. The secondary outcome was to compare the same variables during the full curfew time, i.e., April 2020 versus April 2019. Results: The number of OPD visits was lower in the first third of 2020 (7390 vs. 10,379 in 2019 P 90%, while the number of emergency pediatric surgical procdures were similar during COVID-19 pandemic compared with non-COVID-19 time. Ureteric reimplantation, hypospadias repair, cryptorchidism, and circumcision procedures were postponed. Pyeloplasty and urolithiasis-related procedures were performed to prevent irreversible disease progression or organ damage. There was an increase in rate of teleclinic and day surgery to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection.

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