General practitioner visits after SARS-CoV-2 omicron compared with the delta variant in children in Norway: a prospective nationwide registry study.

BACKGROUND

SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is followed by an immediate increase in primary care utilisation. The difference in utilisation following infection with the delta and omicron virus variants is unknown.

OBJECTIVES

To study whether general practitioner (GP) contacts were different in children infected with the omicron versus delta variant for up to 4 weeks after the week testing positive.

SETTING

Primary care.

PARTICIPANTS

All residents in Norway aged 0-10. After excluding 47 683 children with a positive test where the virus variant was not identified as delta or omicron and 474 children who were vaccinated, the primary study population consisted of 613 448 children.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

GP visits.

METHODS

We estimated the difference in the weekly share visiting the GP after being infected with the delta or omicron variant to those in the study population who were either not tested or who tested negative using an event study design, controlling for calendar week of consultation, municipality fixed effects and sociodemographic factors in multivariate logistic regressions.

RESULTS

Compared with preinfection, increased GP utilisation was found for children 1 and 2 weeks after testing positive for the omicron variant, with an OR of 6.7 (SE: 0.69) in the first week and 5.5 (0.72) in the second week. This increase was more pronounced for children with the delta variant, with an OR of 8.2 (0.52) in the first week and 7.1 (0.93) in the second week. After 2 weeks, the GP utilisation returned to preinfection levels.

CONCLUSION

The omicron variant appears to have resulted in less primary healthcare interactions per infected child compared with the delta variant.