Investigating the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on children presenting to emergency departments across Europe

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Paediatric emergency department presentation; Not Applicable; Paediatric emergency department presentation, impact of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 infection)

• Registration Number: ISRCTN91495258
• Lead Sponsor: Imperial College London

Brief Summary

2022 Results article in https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36026507/ (added 30/08/2022) 2021 Results article in https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34107120/ paediatric emergency visits in Sweden (added 03/09/2024)

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2020-07-14
• Study Completion: 2021-12-31
• Last Update Posted: 9 September 2024

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 2400000

Inclusion Criteria

1. All children presenting to the emergency department during the period of interest for unscheduled health care
2. Aged between 0 and 18 years (upper age limit determined by the upper age bracket for children being assessed at the local participating centre)
3. Undergo a formal clinical assessment by advanced nurse practitioner (or equivalent) or clinician in the emergency department
4. All or part of the data of the triaging process (including vital signs), consultation, management (including diagnostics and treatment) and outcomes (including working diagnosis and disposition) routinely documented in the electronic patient record

Exclusion Criteria

1. Children visiting the emergency department who are then streamed to a primary care service for the initial consultation.
2. Children presenting to the emergency department for scheduled health care or a planned follow-up visit (children who have an unscheduled re-visit to the emergency department within one disease episode are not excluded)

Study & Design

• Study Type: Observational
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Absolute numbers of children presenting to the paediatric emergency department over the period of interest; for all children and children with different typologies (i.e. working diagnosis, age)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
1. The severity of illness of children presenting to the paediatric emergency department over the period of interest as defined by the following criteria: percentage of children with abnormal vital parameters; high triage urgency; a composite outcome of the need for emergency medications, the need for hospital admission for >24 h, the need for PICU admission, and death<br>2. Change of relative incidence of children with specific diagnoses of interest and the severity of their presentation as a proxy for timeliness of presentations. Calculated from: absolute numbers of children presenting to the paediatric emergency department; the percentage of children with abnormal vital parameters; the number of cases with high triage urgency; a composite outcome of the need for emergency medications, the need for hospital admission for >24 h, the need for PICU admission, and death; over the period of interest and over an equivalent historical time period for comparison