Impact of containment following COVID -19 on hospitalization activities in the pediatric surgical emergencies department, children’s hospital of Rabat

¹ Department of pediatric surgical emergencies, children’s hospital of Rabat, Morocco.
² Faculty of medicine and pharmacy, University Mohammed V, Rabat, Morocco.
³ Laboratory of Genetic and Biometry, faculty of science, university Ibn Tofail Kenitra, Morocco.
⁴ Laboratory of epidemiology, clinical research and Biostatistics, faculty of medicine and pharmacy, University Mohammed V, Rabat.
⁵ Pediatric surgery department, university hospital center, Tanger-Tetouan-Housseima region.
⁶ Ministry of health, Republic of Benin.

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has put stress on the healthcare system with a major impact on access to healthcare. The aim is to study the impact of containment on the hospitalization of children in the pediatric surgical emergency department, Children’s Hospital of Rabat. Material and methods: A retrospective study was carried out of children admitted at the Pediatric Surgical Emergencies Department (PSE), over a period of 6 months. The data were entered and analyzed by statistical software Jamovi 1.6.23. A chi-square test was used to compare the variables between the two periods: before and during containment. Results: We identified 579 children hospitalized during the first semester of 2020. The median age was 5 years [1-10] with predominance of boys (66.1%). Admission diagnosis are represented by abdominal emergencies (36.8%), head trauma (22.6%). Burns represent only 5,7%. These diagnosis were divided into visceral surgical emergencies (42%), trauma emergencies (48%) and non-urgent pathologies (10%). Surgery was done in 45.6%. Visceral and trauma emergencies were equivalent before and during the containment. On the other hand, there was a slight increase for visceral emergencies (57% Vs 43%) while the number of scheduled patients fell from 94.3% before containment to 5,7% during the containment.