Work

Impact of COVID ‐19 on Hospital Admissions for Children With Developmental Disadvantages: A Western Sydney Metropolitan Hospital Experience on Health Inequity

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: AIMS: To investigate the impact of Sydney's COVID-19 lockdown on children with developmental disadvantages and reflect on current clinical practice. METHODS: Retrospective data was collected from a western Sydney metropolitan hospital's electronic database and patients. We reviewed all children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Cerebral Palsy (CP) or Intellectual Disability (ID) admitted 36 months prior to and after lockdown policy being implemented. RESULTS: The prevalence of hospital presentation was reduced during the lockdown period. The average length of stay (LoS) increased by approximately 1.5 folds. Comparatively, the average LoS of the general paediatric population increased minimally. Seizures, asthma, and upper respiratory tract infections were the three commonest issues for hospital admissions in both periods. COVID-19 infection accounted for 4% of admissions in the lockdown period. Around 20.8% of patients with disadvantages were admitted with more than two major issues. None of these patients had concurrent COVID-19 infection. CONCLUSIONS: Children with developmental disabilities experience greater disadvantages during lockdown. The likely reasons include inequity caused by increased barriers to healthcare service. The indirect benefit of reducing infection transmission during lockdown was not reflected in our patient group, contributing to the disease burden. Chronic diseases remain the most common causes of admissions in all periods, suggesting the essentiality of improving chronic disease management in future clinical practice.

Source: Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health

DOI: 10.1111/jpc.16798

Authors: Lanxin Li, Habib Bhurawala, Anthony Liu

Institutions: The University of Sydney, Nepean Hospital, The University of Notre Dame Australia

Language: English

Topic: COVID-19 and healthcare impacts

Subfield: Oncology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,150