The Effect of the Pandemic on Characteristics of Pediatric Intensive Care Hospitalizations

Aim: SARS CoV-2 virus has spread all over the world after
creating a local epidemic in Wuhan, China. The pandemic
has made changes in the characteristics of hospital
admissions as well as in all aspects of life. Our aim in this
study is to compare the characteristics of the patients
hospitalized in the pediatric intensive care unit before
and during the pandemic.
Material and Method: The records of the patients
hospitalized in Necmettin Erbakan University Meram
Medical Faculty Pediatric Intensive Care Unit between
March 11th, 2019 and March 11th, 2021 were analyzed
from the medical database. The study group was divided
into two as patients hospitalized before March 11th, 2020,
and after March 11th, 2020. The patients’ age, gender,
diagnosis, length of stay, respiratory support treatment
methods, time spent on mechanical ventilation and
tracheostomy procedure were recorded.
Results: There was no significant difference in terms of
the frequency of hospitalization in the intensive care
unit, length of hospital stay, duration of mechanical
ventilator support, and patient diagnoses. A significant,
positive and strong correlation was found between the
length of stay of the patients and the time they spent on
mechanical ventilator.
Conclusion: The pandemic had no effect on the
clinical and demographic characteristics of the patients
hospitalized in our pediatric intensive care unit.