Evolution in the incidence of infectious diseases in the pediatric ENT area during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Autores de IIS La Fe

• Lidia Torres Garcia

  Autor

• Miguel Armengot Carceller

  Autor

Participantes ajenos a IIS La Fe

• Acosta RM
• Martínez AC
• Alcañiz II
• Velazquez AA

Grupos

• Biomedicina Molecular, Celular y Genómica

  

  Leader

  José María Millán Salvador

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: SARS COV-2 infection is an emerging disease that has become a global pandemic since the beginning of 2020. To reduce transmission, measures have been imposed by governments such as home confinement, the use of masks, social distancing or promotion of hand hygiene. The aim of this study is to determine if the measures adopted to reduce the COVID-19 pandemic have produced a decrease in the incidence of infectious diseases and their complications in the ENT area in our center. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective descriptive study was carried out in a tertiary hospital of patients aged between 0 and 15 years who required admission due to deep cervical infections, complications derived from acute otitis media (mastoiditis or facial paralysis) or complicated acute sinusitis. RESULTS: There is a notable decrease in the number of global admissions in the COVID period (9) compared to the average of the previous 5 years (20.1). Likewise, there are statistically significant differences in the number of admissions for cervical infections (p value?=?0.027) and complications derived from acute otitis media (p value?=?0.029). DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: A decrease in the number of admissions caused by complications of infections in the ENT area in paediatric patients has been observed after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in our environment, this fact could be explained by a global decrease in the number of infections of the upper respiratory tract due to the hygienic measures taken by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U.

Keywords

• Acute otitis media; Complicated sinus infections; Deep cervical infections; Infecciones cervicales profundas; Paediatric; Pediatrico; SARS COV-2; Sinusitis complicadas; otitis media aguda