Foreign Body Aspiration in Israeli Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic
2Pediatric Pulmonary Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, ישראל
3Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, ישראל
4Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; The pediatric pulmonology unit, Pediatric Department, Hadassah Medical Center, ישראל
5Pediatric pulmonary unit, Shaare Zedek Medical center affiliated with the Hebrew University School of Medicine, ישראל
6Pediatric Pulmonology Institute, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, ישראל
7Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, ישראל
8Pediatric Pulmonology Unit, Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, ישראל
9Clinical Research Center, Soroka University Medical Center, ישראל
10Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Soroka University Medical Center, ישראל
11Pediatric Pulmonology Institute, Ruth Rappaport Children's Hospital, Rambam Health Care Campus, ישראל
12Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, ישראל
Background: Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there has been a decline in the pediatric emergency department visits. Our aim was to assess the pattern of pediatric foreign body aspiration (FBA) during the first year of the COVID-19, in comparison to the prior years.
Methods: In this retrospective multicenter study, we compared the number of children that presented with FBA during the COVID-19 year (March 1st, 2020 to February 28, 2021), to the annual average of the years 2016-2019. We also compared the lockdown periods to the post-lockdown periods and the percentage of missed FBA, proven FBA and flexible bronchoscopy as the removal procedure.
Results: 345 children with FBA from six centers were included, 276 in the pre COVID-19 years (average 69 per year) and 69 in the COVID-19 year. There was no difference in the prevalence of FBA between the COVID-19 year and any of the prior four years. Examining the lockdown effect, the monthly incidence of FBA dropped from a pre COVID-19 average of 5.75 cases to 5.1 cases during lockdown periods and increased to 6.3 cases in post-lockdown periods. No difference in percentage of missed FB or proven FB was observed. There was a significant rise in the usage of flexible bronchoscopy as the removal procedure (of 15.4% vs 30.4%, p=0.001)
Conclusion: There was no difference in the prevalence of FBA during the COVID-19 year. However, there were fewer cases during lockdown periods, compared to post-lockdown periods, presumably related to better parental supervision.