Waiting for the next winter. Outpatient pediatric visits for respiratory
infections before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in the city of
Buenos Aires
Abstract
Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric visits
due to acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) decreased, but most
reports are from hospitalized patients. There is little information on
this phenomenon in outpatients, who are the majority in IRABs. We
evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ALRIs related
outpatient visits in the City of Buenos Aires. Methods:
Observational study including all outpatient visits of children under 2
years of age to the public health system of the City of Buenos Aires,
between Jan 01, 2018 and Dec 31, 2022. We estimated the total number
visits and the ALRIs-related visits, and their distribution throughout
the study period. Results: A total of 704,426 visits were
registered, 7.38% of them due to ALRIs. ALRIs-related visits decreased
from the implementation of a national lockdown (2020) and increased
again as the restriction measures decreased, particularly the return to
full school attendance (2021). In general, the proportion of
ALRIs-related vists was significantly higher in the cold months than in
the warm ones (9.8% vs. 5.5%; OR: 1.76, 95%CI: 1.73-1.79;
p<0.001). This difference was observed before (2018, 2019) and
after the pandemic (2022), but not in 2020-2021. The peak of
ALRIs-related visits occurred in the cold months in pre-pandemic years
(2018-2019), did not appear in 2020, reappeared delayed in 2021 and
recovered seasonality in 2022. Conclusion: Outpatient
ALRIs-related visits decreased significantly in the city of Buenos Aires
during the COVID-19 pandemic and currently seem to have recovered their
magnitude and seasonality.