The Unintended Impact of COVID-19 Associated Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions on Paediatric Hospital Admissions: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis.

IF 1.6 4区医学 Q2 PEDIATRICS

Journal of paediatrics and child health Pub Date : 2025-07-09 DOI:10.1111/jpc.70111

Mitchell T G Pratt, Huong Le, Ashleigh Lin, Ariel Mace, Christopher C Blyth, Hannah C Moore

{"title":"The Unintended Impact of COVID-19 Associated Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions on Paediatric Hospital Admissions: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis.","authors":"Mitchell T G Pratt, Huong Le, Ashleigh Lin, Ariel Mace, Christopher C Blyth, Hannah C Moore","doi":"10.1111/jpc.70111","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Aim: COVID-19 related non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) disrupted global healthcare utilisation, with notable declines in infection related paediatric hospitalisations. We aimed to identify non-infectious paediatric conditions for which the incidence of hospital admissions increased during the introduction and alleviation of NPIs in 2020.Methods: We examined anonymous hospitalisation data from Perth's sole tertiary paediatric hospital (Jan 2015-Dec 2020), according to pre-defined age groups (0-4 years, 5-9 years, 10-16 years and 0-16). We identified the most frequent non-infectious diagnoses in these age groups over five different NPI periods. We quantified the impact of NPIs on admissions for the most frequent diagnosis groups (perinatal disorders, mental disorders) using interrupted time series (ITS) analysis.Results: Following implementation of NPIs, admission rates for perinatal disorders amongst 0-4 year-olds increased by 18% (IRR = 1.18 [95% CI: 1.04-1.35]). ITS analysis revealed non-significant changes in admissions for mental disorders in 10-16 year-olds (IRR = 0.91 [95% CI: 0.79-1.06]). The incidence of eating disorders, however, increased significantly following the introduction of NPIs (IRR = 1.60 [95% CI: 1.14-2.25]).Conclusions: Changes in admissions for perinatal disorders and eating disorders highlight the unintended impact of COVID-19 associated NPIs on paediatric health. Amongst mental disorders more generally, it is possible that admission rates in 2020 may have been greater had COVID-19 associated NPIs not disrupted pre-pandemic trends. These findings aid our understanding of social factors mediating paediatric disease and may improve healthcare delivery in a post-pandemic era.","PeriodicalId":16648,"journal":{"name":"Journal of paediatrics and child health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of paediatrics and child health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.70111","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PEDIATRICS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aim: COVID-19 related non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) disrupted global healthcare utilisation, with notable declines in infection related paediatric hospitalisations. We aimed to identify non-infectious paediatric conditions for which the incidence of hospital admissions increased during the introduction and alleviation of NPIs in 2020.

Methods: We examined anonymous hospitalisation data from Perth's sole tertiary paediatric hospital (Jan 2015-Dec 2020), according to pre-defined age groups (0-4 years, 5-9 years, 10-16 years and 0-16). We identified the most frequent non-infectious diagnoses in these age groups over five different NPI periods. We quantified the impact of NPIs on admissions for the most frequent diagnosis groups (perinatal disorders, mental disorders) using interrupted time series (ITS) analysis.

Results: Following implementation of NPIs, admission rates for perinatal disorders amongst 0-4 year-olds increased by 18% (IRR = 1.18 [95% CI: 1.04-1.35]). ITS analysis revealed non-significant changes in admissions for mental disorders in 10-16 year-olds (IRR = 0.91 [95% CI: 0.79-1.06]). The incidence of eating disorders, however, increased significantly following the introduction of NPIs (IRR = 1.60 [95% CI: 1.14-2.25]).

Conclusions: Changes in admissions for perinatal disorders and eating disorders highlight the unintended impact of COVID-19 associated NPIs on paediatric health. Amongst mental disorders more generally, it is possible that admission rates in 2020 may have been greater had COVID-19 associated NPIs not disrupted pre-pandemic trends. These findings aid our understanding of social factors mediating paediatric disease and may improve healthcare delivery in a post-pandemic era.

查看原文本刊更多论文

COVID-19相关非药物干预措施对儿科住院率的意外影响：中断时间序列分析

目的：与COVID-19相关的非药物干预措施（npi）扰乱了全球医疗保健利用，与感染相关的儿科住院率显著下降。我们的目标是确定在2020年npi引入和缓解期间住院率增加的非传染性儿科疾病。方法：根据预先定义的年龄组（0-4岁、5-9岁、10-16岁和0-16岁），我们检查了珀斯唯一一家三级儿科医院（2015年1月至2020年12月）的匿名住院数据。我们在五个不同的NPI时期确定了这些年龄组中最常见的非传染性诊断。我们使用中断时间序列（ITS）分析量化了npi对最常见诊断组（围产期疾病、精神障碍）入院的影响。结果：实施npi后，0-4岁儿童围产期疾病的住院率增加了18% （IRR = 1.18 [95% CI: 1.04-1.35]）。ITS分析显示，10-16岁青少年因精神障碍入院的人数无显著变化（IRR = 0.91 [95% CI: 0.79-1.06]）。然而，引入npi后，饮食失调的发生率显著增加（IRR = 1.60 [95% CI: 1.14-2.25]）。结论：围产期疾病和饮食失调入院人数的变化凸显了COVID-19相关npi对儿科健康的意外影响。在更普遍的精神障碍中，如果与COVID-19相关的npi没有破坏大流行前的趋势，2020年的入院率可能会更高。这些发现有助于我们理解介导儿科疾病的社会因素，并可能改善大流行后时代的医疗保健服务。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of paediatrics and child health 医学-小儿科

CiteScore

2.90

自引率

5.90%

发文量

487

审稿时长

3-6 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health publishes original research articles of scientific excellence in paediatrics and child health. Research Articles, Case Reports and Letters to the Editor are published, together with invited Reviews, Annotations, Editorial Comments and manuscripts of educational interest.