CYP Now - Impact of Covid-19 on emergency department attendances for young people

Researchers from the University of Southampton wanted to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on young people with specific medical, surgical, trauma and mental health conditions.

Data suggests the number of children and young people coming to the ED with mental health conditions fell by 30.3 per cent. Picture: Wafi Zimamul/Adobe Stock

Full report: Impact of Covid-19 on emergency department attendances for young people

Authors: Folasade Solanke, Stephanie Easton, Anna Selby, David James, Graham Roberts

Published by: Archives of Diseases in Childhood, September 2022

SUMMARY

Researchers analysed an anonymised database of 166,459 patients aged 0 to 24 who presented to University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust emergency department (ED) over a five-year period from 1 April 2016.

The researchers used the data to estimate the numbers of children and young people who would have attended the ED if there had been no pandemic and compared this with the actual figures. They worked out there were 38.1 per cent fewer visits to the ED during the first year of the pandemic from March 2020 among this age group.

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