Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Epilepsy Evaluations in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Epilepsy Evaluations in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Background. Seizures are a common cause of evaluation in the pediatric emergency department (ED). Several studies about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on ED attendances report a considerable reduction in general pediatric care. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the admission to the pediatric ED for seizures.

Materials and methods. We performed a retrospective study to assess the rate of ED admission for seizures at the pediatric ED of the Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico of Milan between January 2017 and December 2021, comparing the pre-pandemic (from January 2017 to February 2020) and pandemic periods (from March 2020 to December 2021).

Inclusion Criteria:

• age: 1 months to 17 years
• sex: all
• with at least one access to the Pediatric ED of the hospital for seizures

Exclusion Criteria:

• children who received a diagnosis of seizure on admission in triage that was not confirmed at discharge (breath-holding spell, fainting…).