Rev Esp Quimioter 2024; 37(1): 58-68
Increase in severe acute respiratory infections in children during the last phase of the COVID-19 pandemic
LORENA BERMÚDEZ-BARREZUETA, MARTA BREZMES RAPOSO, MARTA BENITO GUTIÉRREZ, MIRIAM GUTIÉRREZ JIMENO, ELVA RODRÍGUEZ MERINO, MARÍA PINO-VELÁZQUEZ, CARMEN FERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA-ABRIL, SILVIA ROJO RELLO, JOSÉ MARÍA EIROS BOUZA, MARÍA ASUNCIÓN PINO-VÁZQUEZ
Published: 20 December 2023
http://www.doi.org/10.37201/req/074.2023
Objective. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a variation in the circulation of respiratory pathogens. Our aim was to analyze the epidemiology of severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) in children during 3 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, in comparison with a previous period.
Patients and Methods. An observational study was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Spain, which analyzed the
frequency and characteristics of patients admitted for SARI in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) during the COVID-19 pandemic (1 March 2020 to 28 February 2023), compared to pre-pandemic period (1 March 2017 to 29 February 2020).
Results. A total of 268 patients were included (59.6% males). The median age was 9.6 months (IQR 1.7 – 37). In the pre-pandemic period, there were 126 admissions with an average of 42 admissions/year. During the pandemic, there were 142 admissions, observing a significant reduction in admissions in the first year (12 admissions/year), in contrast to 82 admissions during the third year, which represented an increase of 95% compared to the average of admissions/year in pre-pandemic. In addition, in the last year there was evidence of an increase in viral coinfections in relation to pre-pandemic period (54.9% vs 39.7%; p=0.032). There were no differences in length of hospital stay or PICU stay.
Conclusions. During the last year, coinciding with low rates of hospitalization for COVID in Spain, we observed a notable increase in admissions to the PICU for SARI. Probably, the prolonged period of low exposure to pathogens due to the measures adopted during the pandemic might have caused a decrease in population immunity with a rise in severe respiratory infections.
Rev Esp Quimioter 2024; 37(1): 58-68 [Texto completo PDF]
