Preclinical Pediatric Care During the Corona Pandemic: A Description of Emergency Medical System (EMS) Transports in a Population-Based Study in Austria

Objectives: World health organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak as pandemic on 11 March 2020. Austria faced three consecutive lockdowns, drastically limiting social and economic life, with a profound impact on health care. This study aims to describe the effect of the corona pandemic on pediatric emergency transports in the state of Vorarlberg.

Methods: In this population-based study medical records, received from the emergency medical system (EMS) Vorarlberg, of children aged>28 days to 18 years (n=630) were analyzed over a study period ranging from 1 January 2020 to 3 May 2021.

Results: We observed a significant reduction in emergency transports during lockdown (1.35±1.14 no lockdown vs. 1.06±1.01 during lockdown, W=23891, p=0.021). Comparing different diseases, there was no significant difference between lockdown and non-lockdown periods, nor in comparison to the period before the pandemic. The severity of diseases, evaluated with the NACA-Score, did not differ during lockdown and non-lockdown periods, or in comparison to a previous study, conducted in the same region of Austria before the pandemic. We could see an increase in documented vital parameters compared to before the pandemic, and significantly less monitoring in the youngest age group during the corona pandemic (χ2(3, n=630)=20.933, p<0.001).

Conclusion: The corona pandemic had profound impact on healthcare in Austria, as reflected in a significant decrease in emergency transports during lockdown in the present study. While documentation increased, possibly due to heightened alertness during the pandemic, the examination and evaluation of infants and young children remain a challenging task.

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
19. Mai 2025