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

Completed

• Conditions: Headache Disorders; COVID-19; Emergency Service, Hospital

• Registration Number: NCT06295003
• Lead Sponsor: Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico

Brief Summary

Background: To evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on evaluations in the pediatric emergency department (ED) because of headache as main symptom.

Methods: Number and clinical features of patients evaluated in the pediatric ED of a single site in Milan,Italy, were collected between January 2017 and January 2022. The impact of COVID-19 on evaluation rates was quantified by using the incidence rate ratio (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) between the pandemic (March 2020 to January 2022) and the prepandemic period (January 2017 to February 2020).

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2022-04-30
• Primary Completion: 2022-05-30
• Study Completion: 2022-05-30
• 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: 700

Inclusion Criteria

• range of age: 2 - 18 years
• sex: all
• headache as main symptom

Exclusion Criteria

• headache in the context of head trauma, because of different diagnostic-care in Pediatric Emergency Department

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
During the study period, 890 evaluations were registered: the number of partecipants was 689 over the prepandemic period and 201 over the pandemic period. Mean age at evaluation was 10 years (range: 1 to 17 years).	the pandemic (March 2020 to January 2022) and the prepandemic period (January 2017 to February 2020).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Evaluation rates per month were 18.1 during the prepandemic period and 8.7 during COVID-19 pandemic, with peaks in autumn and winter and drops in summer. The reduction in evaluation rate was higher for secondary headache when compared with primary one	the pandemic (March 2020 to January 2022) and the prepandemic period (January 2017 to February 2020).

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

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