Rothschild Foundation Hospital, Ophthalmology Department, Paris, France.
Rothschild Foundation Hospital, Ophthalmology Department, Paris, France.
Arch Pediatr. 2023 Aug;30(6):396-400. doi: 10.1016/j.arcped.2023.06.002. Epub 2023 Jun 12.
Epidemiological data on the use of eye-related emergency services by children are limited. The objective of this study was to determine how COVID-19 affected the epidemiological trends of pediatric ocular emergencies.
We performed a retrospective chart review of children under the age of 18 years who visited our eye-related emergency department between March 17 and June 7, 2020 and between March 18 and June 9, 2019. This was a descriptive and comparative analysis of the two study periods based on the demographic characteristics of patients and the diagnosis reported by the ophthalmologist in the digital medical charts. One of the investigators performed a second reading of the files to homogenize the diagnosis classification based on the most frequently found items.
In total, 754 children were seen in our eye-related emergency department during the 2020 study period versus 1399 in 2019, representing a 46% decrease. In 2019, the four main diagnoses were traumatic injury (30%), allergic conjunctivitis (15%), infectious conjunctivitis (12%), and chalazion/blepharitis (12%). In the 2020 study period there was a significant decrease in the proportion of patients presenting with traumatic injuries (p < 0.001), infectious conjunctivitis (p = 0.03), and chalazion/blepharitis (p < 0.001). Consultations for chalazion/blepharitis were the most affected by the pandemic, followed by traumatic injuries (-72% and -64%, respectively). The proportion of patients who required surgery after trauma was higher in 2020 than in 2019 (p < 0.01), but the absolute number of severe trauma cases remained stable.
The COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by a decrease in the overall use of a pediatric eye-related emergency services in Paris. Visits due to benign causes and ocular trauma also decreased, but visits for more severe pathologies were not affected. Longer-term epidemiological studies may confirm or refute a change in eye emergency department use habits.
关于儿童使用眼部急诊服务的流行病学数据有限。本研究的目的是确定 COVID-19 如何影响儿科眼部急诊的流行病学趋势。
我们对 2020 年 3 月 17 日至 6 月 7 日和 2019 年 3 月 18 日至 6 月 9 日期间在我们的眼部急诊就诊的 18 岁以下儿童的病历进行了回顾性图表审查。这是基于患者的人口统计学特征和眼科医生在数字病历中报告的诊断，对两个研究期间进行的描述性和比较分析。其中一位研究人员对文件进行了第二次阅读，根据最常发现的项目对诊断分类进行了统一。
在我们的眼部急诊就诊的儿童中，2020 年研究期间有 754 人，而 2019 年有 1399 人，减少了 46%。2019 年，四个主要诊断是创伤性损伤（30%）、过敏性结膜炎（15%）、传染性结膜炎（12%）和睑板腺炎/睑缘炎（12%）。在 2020 年的研究期间，创伤性损伤（p<0.001）、传染性结膜炎（p=0.03）和睑板腺炎/睑缘炎（p<0.001）的患者比例显著下降。睑板腺炎/睑缘炎的就诊受到疫情的影响最大，其次是创伤性损伤（分别减少了 72%和 64%）。2020 年创伤后需要手术的患者比例高于 2019 年（p<0.01），但严重创伤病例的绝对数量保持稳定。
COVID-19 大流行伴随着巴黎儿科眼部急诊服务的整体使用量下降。良性病因和眼部创伤就诊也有所减少，但更严重的疾病就诊没有受到影响。长期的流行病学研究可能会证实或反驳眼部急诊就诊习惯的改变。
