Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Epilepsy Evaluations in the Pediatric Emergency Department

COVID-19 Clinical Trial

Official title:

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Epilepsy Evaluations in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT06294977
• Other study ID #: CRISI-COVID
• Status: Completed
• Start date: November 30, 2022
• Est. completion date: December 30, 2022

Study information

• Verified date: March 2024
• Source: Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

Background. Seizures are a common cause of evaluation in the pediatric emergency department (ED). Several studies about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on ED attendances report a considerable reduction in general pediatric care. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the admission to the pediatric ED for seizures.

Materials and methods. We performed a retrospective study to assess the rate of ED admission for seizures at the pediatric ED of the Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico of Milan between January 2017 and December 2021, comparing the pre-pandemic (from January 2017 to February 2020) and pandemic periods (from March 2020 to December 2021).

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 1000
• Est. completion date: December 30, 2022
• Est. primary completion date: December 30, 2022
• Gender: All
• Age group: 1 Month to 17 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• age: 1 months to 17 years

• sex: all

• with at least one access to the Pediatric ED of the hospital for seizures

Exclusion Criteria:

• children who received a diagnosis of seizure on admission in triage that was not confirmed at discharge (breath-holding spell, fainting…).

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• COVID-19
• Emergencies
• Epilepsy

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Italy	Pediatric Emergency Department Clinica de Marchi, Foundation IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico	Milan

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Italy, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	During the study period, 1,091 patients with seizures were admitted to pediatric ED, 776 before the pandemic and 315 during the pandemic. In particular, the evaluation rates per month were 20.4 before the pandemic and 14.3 afterward		the pre-pandemic (from January 2017 to February 2020) and pandemic periods (from March 2020 to December 2021)
Secondary	Patients with a history of previous seizures showed a greater decrease in the monthly number of ED visits compared to those with a first seizure. An increased rate of unprovoked seizures and a decreased rate of provoked ones were observed in the pandemic		the pre-pandemic (from January 2017 to February 2020) and pandemic periods (from March 2020 to December 2021)