Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Forensic Case in Children

Abstract

Objective: Forensic cases have an important place in applications to pediatric emergency units. With the pandemic period, there have been changes in the frequency and characteristics of emergency services. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effects of the pandemic on forensic cases in children. Material-Method: The files of the patients who were admitted to Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Medical Faculty Pediatric Emergency Unit between March 2019 and March 2021 and defined as forensic cases were analyzed retrospectively from the hospital information management system. Results: 505 (48.4%) of the forensic cases were girls and, 538 (41.6%) were boys. When the frequency of admission was evaluated according to the genders, no significant difference was found between the genders (p>0.05). The median age of all cases was 3 (0.4-17.85) years. Of the patients, 652 (62.5%) were treated as outpatients and 391 (37.5%) were treated as inpatients. Of the patients, 569 (54.5%) were diagnosed before the pandemic, and 473 (45.5%) after the pandemic. The diagnosis of foreign body in the nose was more common in boys, and the diagnosis of suicide attempt was more common in girls. It was determined that the cases were hospitalized more frequently during the pandemic period, the cases of foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal tract were less, and the cases of abuse were higher. Conclusion: The social restrictions experienced during the pandemic period, the closure of schools and workplaces have caused changes in the characteristics of forensic cases. More studies are needed to investigate the effect of the pandemic on forensic cases in children.

Keywords

• adli vaka
• çocuk
• i̇stismar
• pandemi
• yabancı cisim
• forensic case
• child
• abuse
• pandemic
• foreign body