Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Epilepsy Evaluations in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Completed

• Conditions: Emergency Services, Hospital; COVID-19; Epilepsy

• Registration Number: NCT06294977
• Lead Sponsor: Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico

Brief Summary

Background. Seizures are a common cause of evaluation in the pediatric emergency department (ED). Several studies about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on ED attendances report a considerable reduction in general pediatric care. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the admission to the pediatric ED for seizures.

Materials and methods. We performed a retrospective study to assess the rate of ED admission for seizures at the pediatric ED of the Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico of Milan between January 2017 and December 2021, comparing the pre-pandemic (from January 2017 to February 2020) and pandemic periods (from March 2020 to December 2021).

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2022-11-30
• Primary Completion: 2022-12-30
• Study Completion: 2022-12-30
• Status Verified: 2024-03
• Study First Submitted: 2024-03-04
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-03-05
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-03-05
• Study First Posted: 2024-03-06
• Last Update Posted: 2024-03-06

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1000

Inclusion Criteria

• age: 1 months to 17 years
• sex: all
• with at least one access to the Pediatric ED of the hospital for seizures

Exclusion Criteria

• children who received a diagnosis of seizure on admission in triage that was not confirmed at discharge (breath-holding spell, fainting...).

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
During the study period, 1,091 patients with seizures were admitted to pediatric ED, 776 before the pandemic and 315 during the pandemic. In particular, the evaluation rates per month were 20.4 before the pandemic and 14.3 afterward	the pre-pandemic (from January 2017 to February 2020) and pandemic periods (from March 2020 to December 2021)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Patients with a history of previous seizures showed a greater decrease in the monthly number of ED visits compared to those with a first seizure. An increased rate of unprovoked seizures and a decreased rate of provoked ones were observed in the pandemic	the pre-pandemic (from January 2017 to February 2020) and pandemic periods (from March 2020 to December 2021)

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Pediatric Emergency Department Clinica de Marchi, Foundation IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico; 🇮🇹 Milan, Italy