4/26/2023 0 Comments National lockdownSuch precautions included a curfew (started on March 21, 2020) and cancellation of religious, social, and business gatherings ( 5). Following this, the Saudi government gradually implemented precautionary health actions. In Saudi Arabia, the first case of COVID-19 was reported in a citizen on Ma( 4). The WHO released an international technical guidance protocol for COVID-19 prevention and confinement during the pandemic ( 3). The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Ma( 2). In December 2019, an outbreak was caused by a novel enveloped ribonucleic acid coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei province, China ( 1). The post pandemic pattern of respiratory illnesses among children needs further research. Reduction in hospitalizations seems less likely to be secondary to hospital avoidance or delayed presentations as number of ICU admission and oxygen requirements did not increase. This total reduction in hospitalization was not associated with higher oxygen requirements, mechanical ventilation, ICU admissions or longer hospital stay.Ĭonclusions: Lockdown and precautionary measures executed during the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic helped decrease the number of hospitalizations due to lower respiratory illnesses in Saudi Arabia. There was a surge of viral testing during a period of uncertainty in the early phase of the pandemic. However, proportion of pneumonia diagnosis to total hospitalizations increased in 2020 (55% compared to 50% and 35%). Number of pneumonia cases were lowered in 2020 compared to the previous 2 years. But, asthma hospitalizations were significantly less in 2020 compared to the previous 2 years (49–65% reduction, P = 0.003). Although bronchiolitis hospitalizations' dropped by more than half in 2020 compared to the previous 2 years, it was not statistically significant ( P = 0.07). The major drop happened on the months of April and May. Total number of hospitalizations in 2020 was 201, significantly lower than 399 and 403 hospitalizations in 20, respectively ( P < 0.01). Males were slightly higher than females (55.8% vs. Results: We included 1,003 children from four different centers. Variables like number of hospitalizations, oxygen requirement, mechanical ventilation, admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), length of stay, and results of viral studies were collected. Then, they were compared to the previous 2 years. All pediatric hospitalizations secondary to asthma, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia during the months of the lockdown (March, April, and May) in 2020 were documented. Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study aims to review patients from four major hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Objectives: This study aims to explore the effect of lockdown and early precautionary measures implemented in Saudi Arabia on number of pediatric hospitalizations due to lower respiratory illnesses (bronchiolitis, asthma, and pneumonia). 6King Fahd University Hospital, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Khobar, Saudi Arabia.5Department of Pediatrics, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.4Security Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 3King Saud Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.2Department of Pediatrics, King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.1Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.AlQurashi 5, Ibrahim Nafisah 1 and Abdullah A. Alharbi 1,2 *, Yossef Alnasser 2,3, Ahmed S.
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