The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in Children.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of bronchiolitis in infants and young children. Bronchiolitis, an acute inflammation of the lower respiratory tract, can lead to pneumonia, respiratory failure, and death. We aimed to compare the incidence and severity of RSV infection in children aged 0-60 months before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Comparison of Pediatric Acute Appendicitis Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in New York City.

Acute appendicitis (AA) is the most common abdominal surgical emergency in children and adolescents. In the year immediately following the declaration of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), there was a precipitous decline in emergency department (ED) visits especially for surgical conditions and infectious diseases. Fear of exposure to severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 infection resulted in delay in presentation and time to surgery, and a shift toward more conservative management.

Can the Pediatric Early Warning Score (PEWS) Predict Hospital Length of Stay?

Background: Limited studies have evaluated the utility of scoring systems in the pediatric emergency department (PED) and no studies have evaluated their ability to predict hospital length of stay (LOS) and the usage of Observation units (OUs).

Objective: To evaluate the utility of the Pediatric Early Warning Score (PEWS) in predicting LOS in pediatric patients and thus anticipate admission to an OU versus the pediatric ward.

Methods: A retrospective study of pediatric inpatients (0 to 18 years) at an inner-city community hospital between January 2014 and December 2014.