Ophthalmic Unit, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Ital J Pediatr. 2021 Nov 4;47(1):217. doi: 10.1186/s13052-021-01167-5.
We investigated the volume and the characteristics of pediatric eye emergency department (PEED) consultations performed at our tertiary eye center during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and we compared them to those carried out in the same time interval of the previous three years.
Ophthalmic emergency examinations of patients aged ≤18 years old and done during the national COVID-19 lockdown (March 9th, 2020 - May 3rd, 2020) and in the corresponding date range of the previous three years (2017, 2018, and 2019) have been considered and reviewed. The following features were retrieved and analyzed: age, gender, duration and type of accused symptoms, traumatic etiology, and the discharge diagnosis.
136, 133, and 154 PEED visits have been performed respectively in 2017, 2018, and 2019, while 29 patients presented in 2020. Therefore, the volume of PEED activity decreased by 79.4% (p < 0.0001). Demographical and clinical characteristics were comparable to those of the pre-COVID period. Despite the absolute reduction in the number of traumas, urgent conditions increased significantly from 30.7 to 50.7% (p = 0.024).
PEED activity decreased consistently after the onset of the pandemic and it was mainly attended by those children whose conditions required prompt assistance, reducing the number of patients diagnosed with milder pathologies. At the end of the emergency, better use of PEED could avoid overcrowding and minimize waste, allowing resource optimization for the management of urgent cases.
我们调查了在 COVID-19 大流行早期，我们的三级眼科中心进行的儿科眼科急诊 (PEED) 咨询的数量和特点，并将其与前三年同期进行的咨询进行了比较。
考虑并回顾了在国家 COVID-19 封锁期间（2020 年 3 月 9 日至 5 月 3 日）和前三年（2017 年、2018 年和 2019 年）同期进行的年龄≤18 岁的患者的眼科紧急检查。检索并分析了以下特征：年龄、性别、指控症状的持续时间和类型、创伤病因和出院诊断。
2017 年、2018 年和 2019 年分别进行了 136、133 和 154 次 PEED 就诊，而 2020 年有 29 名患者就诊。因此，PEED 活动量减少了 79.4%（p<0.0001）。人口统计学和临床特征与 COVID 前时期相似。尽管创伤的绝对数量减少，但紧急情况从 30.7%增加到 50.7%（p=0.024）。
大流行开始后，PEED 活动量持续下降，主要由那些需要及时帮助的儿童就诊，减少了轻度疾病患者的数量。在急诊结束时，更好地利用 PEED 可以避免过度拥挤并最大限度地减少浪费，从而优化资源用于紧急情况的管理。
