Presentations to the emergency department in Bologna, Italy, during COVID-19 outbreak

Riccardo Masetti; Ilaria Corsini; Davide Leardini; Marcello Lanari; Andrea Pession

doi:10.1136/bmjpo-2020-000748

Presentations to the emergency department in Bologna, Italy, during COVID-19 outbreak

BMJ Paediatr Open. 2020 Jul 16;4(1):e000748. doi: 10.1136/bmjpo-2020-000748. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Riccardo Masetti¹, Ilaria Corsini², Davide Leardini¹, Marcello Lanari², Andrea Pession¹

Affiliations

¹ Unit of Peadiatrics, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
² Unit of Peadiatrics Emergency, Sant'Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

Abstract

The Emilia Romagna (ER) region, Italy, in March 2020 has seen one of the largest and most serious clusters of COVID-19 in the world. In the period of 30 January to 31 May 2020, the number of paediatric emergency department presentations in Bologna, ER, decreased by 50% compared with the same period of 2019. Visits declined for every age group, with a decrease of 35%, 55% and 46% for the three age groups 0-2, 2-10 and 10-14 years, respectively. The admission rate increased from 5% to 13%. Fewer non-urgent attendances, alongside a decrease in seasonal infections due to the lockdown, appear to be the main reasons.

Keywords: epidemiology; health services research.