Pediatric hospital admissions, case severity, and length of hospital stay during the first 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in a tertiary children's hospital in Switzerland

Background SARS-CoV-2 directly contributes to the burden of respiratory disease in children, but indirect effects of protective measures also need to be considered to assess the overall impact of the pandemic on children's health. Methods We retrospectively compared pre-pandemic and pandemic data of main admission diagnoses, sorted by ICD-10 diagnosis groups, in a tertiary children's hospital in Switzerland from 2017 until August 2021. Hospital admission rates, severity, and length of stay (LOS) of the individual ICD-10 groups during the pandemic were compared with three previous years accounting for seasonal differences. Results Among 20,168 hospital admissions (n = 13 ' 950 in pre-pandemic years; n = 3 ' 120 in 2020 and n = 3 ' 098 in 2021), there were significant decreases in numbers of admissions for respiratory diseases during the early pandemic with a rebound in summer 2021. During the pandemic, admissions for non-respiratory infections, neoplasms, and skin diseases decreased but increased for trauma. Particularly, a drop in admissions for different respiratory infections [e.g. respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and bronchiolitis] was pronounced after introduction of strict measures, but admissions increased again after restrictions were loosened. While disease severity was lower for respiratory and neurologic diseases and bronchiolitis throughout the pandemic, gastrointestinal disease admissions had longer LOS and in the first pandemic year greater severity. For RSV and pneumonia, disease severity and LOS were higher in the first pandemic year and lower in the second pandemic year. Conclusion The pandemic and associated protective measures had a significant effect on respiratory and non-respiratory admissions, particularly with decreases in hospital admissions for respiratory infections followed by a rebound after loosening of measures.

Automated summary

The study found that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated protective measures had a significant impact on children's health, particularly with decreases in hospital admissions for respiratory infections after the introduction of strict measures followed by a rebound after restrictions were loosened.