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. 2024 Jan;63(1):73-79.
doi: 10.1177/00099228231208941. Epub 2023 Oct 23.

Changes in Bronchiolitis Characteristics During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Description of Pediatric Emergency Department Visits in a Community Hospital, 2019-2021

Anna Jurlina Bs  1 , Timothy Maul  2   3 , Parker Hunsaker Bs  1 , Meagan Steffen Bs  4 , Sameep Gawaskar Bs  4 , John Sarandria  5 , Todd F Glass  6 , Kathryn Blake  7 , Kenneth Alexander  8 , Andrea Rivera-Sepulveda  6
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Changes in Bronchiolitis Characteristics During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Description of Pediatric Emergency Department Visits in a Community Hospital, 2019-2021

Anna Jurlina Bs et al. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2024 Jan.

Abstract

A retrospective, cross-sectional study of children with bronchiolitis aged 1 to 24 months during an ED visit between 2019 and 2021 was performed. Chi-square or Kruskal-Wallis was used to compare groups. The gamma coefficient was used to measure the association of variables through time. Bronchiolitis cases decreased by 75% from 2019 to 2020 and rose back to prepandemic levels by 2021. Radiographs (gamma -0.443), steroids (gamma -0.298), and bronchodilators (gamma -0.414) decreased during the study period (P < .001). Laboratory studies (gamma 0.032), viral testing (gamma 0.097), antibiotic use (gamma -0.069), and respiratory support (gamma 0.166) were unchanged. The decrease in steroids and bronchodilators was related to a clinical pathway that discouraged their use. Respiratory support remained unchanged. The COVID-19 pandemic (2019-2021) seems to have had little effect on the severity or resource utilization associated with bronchiolitis but may have unraveled a potential bronchiolitis phenotype that may have been more prominent during the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; bronchiolitis; pandemic; pediatric emergency department.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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