BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has led to the implementation of public health measures that aim to slow the transmission of the virus. The United Kingdom government implemented the first national lockdown on March 23rd, 2020, which lasted until June 1st, 2020. During the lockdown, non-essential businesses were suspended, schools were closed, and citizens were instructed to stay at home. These public health measures have resulted in unanticipated effects on children’s health and well-being.ObjectivesDescribe the changes in the patterns of paediatric respiratory admission observed in Hull University Teaching Hospitals (HUTH) during the first lockdown in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore the possible explanations for the observation.MethodsThe study included paediatric patients admitted to the HUTH with bronchiolitis, lower respiratory tract infections, asthma, viral-induced wheeze, or multi-trigger wheeze during the period of April 1st to May 31st in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Air pollution data was obtained as the Daily Air Quality Index. To study the well-being of patients who were under the care of the paediatric respiratory team, data on telephone respiratory clinics was also collected. General practitioner consultation data was sampled from six surgeries in Hull.ResultsSignificant decline in paediatric respiratory admissions was observed in April and May of 2020 compared to the same months in previous the three years (decrease of 89.3% from 2017, 85.5% from 2018, and 87% from 2019). Data from the general practitioner surgeries revealed a decline in respiratory presentations. Findings from the telephone clinics revealed that most (87.2%) of the children under the paediatric respiratory team were doing well respiratory health perspective and did not require any changes to their treatment.ConclusionsA significant decline in paediatric respiratory admissions was observed in HUTH during the first lockdown in the United Kingdom. Findings from telephone respiratory clinics and general practitioner consultations suggest that parental fear of contracting COVID-19 is unlikely to be the sole explanation for the observed decline.
Exploring the decline in paediatric respiratory admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic