Impact of Pandemic of Presentation to Emergency Department and Admissions

Completed

• Conditions: Emergencies

• Registration Number: NCT04893122
• Lead Sponsor: University of Southampton

Brief Summary

Observational study assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on presentations and admission to hospital in children and young adults.

Detailed Description

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on healthcare utilisation and delivery for children and young adults. This is despite these groups experiencing minimal morbidity and almost no mortality as a direct result of the pandemic. The immediate impact of the first lockdown in April 2020 has been well documented. A number of studies show a marked reduction in presentations of children and young adults to the emergency department.

The question is now, are these trends continuing and are they particularly impacting on specific groups and on specific presentations? With these data, services can be modified to minimise any potential for deleterious effects. It may also be possible to target groups who are not utilising health services as the investigators would expect.

The investigators will use fully anonymised routine data on presentations and admission of 0 to 24 years olds to University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. Data will be graphed to show trends in activity before and after the start of the pandemic. An interrupted time series regression analysis will be used to assess the significance of any changes in trends.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2016-04-01
• Primary Completion: 2021-03-31
• Study Completion: 2021-03-31
• Study First Submitted: 2021-05-14
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-05-14
• Study First Posted: 2021-05-19
• Status Verified: 2022-05
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-05-17
• Last Update Posted: 2022-05-24

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 166459

Inclusion Criteria

• Children and young adults aged 0 to 24 years
• Presented +/- admitted to the emergency department at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust between the 1st of April 2016 and 31st of March 2021

Exclusion Criteria

None

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Attendance in emergency department or paediatric assessment unit	5 years from April 2016	Attendance at the emergency department in Southampton defined as being booked onto the emergency department admission system.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Emergency admission to hospital	5 years from April 2016	Admission to University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust defined as being in hospital for more than four hours. Participants will be divided into the same subgroups as per attendances.