Analysis of the Respiratory Tract Morbidity in Children Living in Big Cities

Upper and lower respiratory tract pathology is an urgent problem of modern paediatrics since it is the most common paediatric disease. The aim was to conduct a retrospective analysis of the structure of respiratory diseases in children. Materials and methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 5,615 medical records of patients undergoing inpatient treatment at the non-profit municipal enterprise City Children's Clinical Hospital in 2018 for respiratory system pathology. Retrospective analysis is performed using the electronic program "Doctor Eleks", which allows us to search and form a group of case histories by keyword. The age characteristics and the structure of the respiratory tract morbidity were defined, seasonal prevalence and duration of treatment, and the medical conditions requiring the longest inpatient treatment were determined. A judicious approach is required to the question of hospitalisation of a patient with respiratory pathology - it must be timely and well-founded because the presence of a respiratory pathology does not always require hospitalisation. There is a necessity in studying the causes of hospitalisation of children for respiratory pathology and retrospectively study the history and causes of re-hospitalisations to develop recommendations for reducing the incidence of hospitalisation. It is also planned to study the structure of hospitalised patients according to other nosologies (pathology of the digestive tract, urinary system, etc.) in the nearest future in order to propose an algorithm for optimising the processes of hospitalisation by differentiating visitors who actually need hospitalisation and those who may be in outpatient treatment.

Indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric health-care use and severe disease: a retrospective national cohort study

BackgroundSevere disease directly associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is rare. However, the indirect consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric health have not been fully quantified. We examined paediatric health-care utilisation, incidence of severe disease, and mortality during the lockdown period in Scotland.MethodsThis national retrospective cohort study examined national data for emergency childhood primary and secondary care utilisation following national lockdown on March 23, 2020. To determine whether social distancing measures and caregiver behavioural changes were associated with delayed care-seeking and increased disease severity on presentation, unplanned, emergency admissions requiring invasive mechanical ventilation for the two national Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) were analysed. PICU admissions were grouped by diagnostic category, and disease severity on presentation calculated. National statutory death records were consulted to establish childhood mortality rates and causes of death. For all observations, the lockdown period was compared to equivalent dates in 2016-2019.FindingsWe identified 273,455 unscheduled primary care attendances; 462,437 emergency department attendances; 54,076 emergency hospital admissions; 413 PICU emergency admissions; and 415 deaths during the lockdown study period and equivalent dates in previous years. The rates of emergency presentations to primary and secondary care fell during lockdown in comparison to previous years. Emergency PICU admissions for children requiring invasive mechanical ventilation also fell, with an odds ratio of 0·52 for chance of admission during lockdown (95% CI 0·37-0·73, p < 0·001). Clinical severity scores did not suggest children were presenting with more advanced disease. The greatest reduction in PICU admissions was for diseases of the respiratory system; those for injury, poisoning or other external causes were equivalent to previous years. Mortality during lockdown did not change significantly compared to 2016-2019.InterpretationNational lockdown led a reduction in paediatric emergency care utilisation, without associated evidence of severe harm.FundingNoneResearch in contextEvidence before this studyData on the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children at a population level are limited. We searched PubMed and medRxiv on October 13, 2020, for studies published from Jan 1, 2020 examining the indirect effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), and associated changes in caregiver health-care seeking behaviour, on the risk of severe paediatric disease and death. We used the search terms COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, non-pharmaceutical interventions, indirect, and children, as well as manually searching references in other relevant papers. Terms were searched individually and in combination as necessary, with no language restrictions. We identified one study that modelled the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on child deaths in low- and middle-income countries. Other studies analysed in isolation the effects of NPIs and other behavioural changes on emergency department attendances, hospital admission rates, paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission rates, or the incidence of specific presentations, such as asthma exacerbations. Some case series described delayed care-seeking for children with non-SARS-CoV-2 disease. We did not identify any national studies examining the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of severe paediatric disease and mortality.Added value of this studyThis national study quantified the changes following national lockdown in Scotland on March 23, 2020. We examined data for unscheduled primary care and emergency department attendances, emergency hospital admissions, emergency paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admissions requiring invasive mechanical ventilation, and paediatric mortality. Rates were compared with previous years. We found a reduction in paediatric emergency care utilisation rates associated with national lockdown. This reduction is likely to be due to a combination of changes in health care seeking behavior, and a fall in overall burden of paediatric infectious disease. These measures did not appear to have been associated with evidence of severe harm to children in Scotland, as evidenced by severity scores on presentation to PICU or mortality.Implications of all the available evidenceThis is the first comprehensive population-based assessment at a national level of the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on severe paediatric morbidity and mortality. Despite a significant reduction in health-care utilisation rates, we did not find associated evidence of severe harm. This study will assist policy makers, health-care providers and the public in evaluating the effects of lockdown on the risk of severe paediatric disease at a population level.

Respiratory medicine

Paediatric respiratory medicine deals with all ailments of the respiratory tract, the body system most commonly affected in acute paediatric disease. Hence it is vital for all doctors working with children to have a good understanding and working knowledge of the variety of presentations, diagnoses, and management of this specialty.

International child health

The burden of paediatric disease is highest in under-resourced countries which also tend to have the youngest populations. An understanding of this huge global imbalance in quality of health care is of great importance to all those working in health care, not only those fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work there.

COVID-19 infection in children and adolescents

The COVID-19 pandemic has predominantly affected the adult population. The disease is less well-defined in children (≤18 years). This review summarises the current understanding of the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and management of COVID-19 in children and adolescents. The prevalence of COVID-19 is significantly lower in children than adults, but paediatric disease is likely underdiagnosed as a result of the high numbers of asymptomatic or mild cases. Children are vulnerable to family cluster outbreaks, but are unlikely to be index cases within a household. Vertical transmission or breast milk transmission are yet to be proven. Between 10 and 90% of paediatric COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic. Symptomatic cases typically present with mild symptoms, including cough, fever and sore throat. Intensive care admission and mortality are rare. Paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome temporally associated with COVID-19 is a rare, but severe, newly emerging phenotype. At present, there is no specific treatment for COVID-19 in adults or children; management is usually supportive. For severe or critical disease, including paediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome temporally associated with COVID-19, the decision to start antiviral or immunomodulatory therapy should be on a case-by-case basis; in the UK, this should be done within a clinical trial. Further research is needed into both the disease course and treatment of paediatric COVID-19.

Adult Onset Intestinal Malrotation: An Often Neglected Entity

Introduction: Intestinal malrotation is a consequent of deviation from the normal 270 degrees counter-clockwise rotation of the midgut during embryogenesis. It is a typically paediatric disease that manifest itself in the first month of life, usually as midgut volvulus. However adult manifestation of intestinal malrotation is not unheard of, albeit rare. Case report: his is a case report of 46 year old man with chronic abdominal pain who was subsequently diagnosed with intestinal malrotation. He was initially referred for barium enema following an incomplete colonoscopy. The suspicion of intestinal malrotation arose during barium enema, as the large bowel loops were all located on the left side. He subsequently had a plain CT following the barium enema, which confirmed the suspicion. In view of this finding, the patient was offered Ladd’s procedure by the surgical team. The patient duly declined and opted for conservative watchful waiting instead.