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Abstract

Objective: A decline in healthcare utilisation and hospital admissions resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, severely affecting many aspects of life. In this study, we sought to evaluate the pandemic impact on general paediatric admissions by comparing the one-year pre-pandemic period. Methods: From the hospital records, all paediatric admissions from the beginning of March 2020 to the end of February 2021 and the corresponding period in 2019–2020 were included in this descriptive study. Results: A total of 4,179 hospitalisations met the study’s inclusion criteria; 2,778 occurred before the pandemic, and 1,401 occurred during the pandemic. The total paediatric hospitalisations decreased by 49.6% during the pandemic compared to before. Asthma (p-value <0.000), acute bronchiolitis (p-value <0.01), upper respiratory tract infections (p-value <0.000), and delivery-related disorders (p-value <0.01) all showed substantial significant decreases during the pandemic period compared to the pre-pandemic era. Conclusion: The decline in the overall hospitalisation rate reflected the fear of contracting COVID-19 in an unsafe hospital environment. Concurrently, the incidence of communicable diseases fell due to pandemic-related lockdowns, hand hygiene issues, and school closures. While social distancing is highly recommended to protect children’s health, public health officials must keep reminding parents not to defer necessary care since paediatric services remain accessible and unaffected during these difficult times.

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