Journal of hospital medicine : an official publication of the Society of Hospital Medicine
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Multicenter Study
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Changes in Healthcare Utilization for Pediatric Respiratory and Nonrespiratory Illnesses in the United States.
The impact of COVID-19 public health interventions on pediatric illnesses nationwide is unknown. We performed a multicenter, cross-sectional study of encounters at 44 children's hospitals in the United States to assess changes in healthcare utilization during the pandemic. ⋯ Encounters for respiratory diseases among adolescents declined to a lesser degree and returned to previous levels faster compared with those of younger children. Further study is needed to determine the contributions of decreased illness and changes in care-seeking behavior to this observed reduction.