Comparing the incidence of pneumonia in children seen at a Nigerian Teaching Hospital before and during the COVID -19 pandemic

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Following the outbreak of the new coronavirus (COVID 19) worldwide,
many governments across the
world including the Nigerian government had to implement measures to curtail the spread of this
virus. Such measures included
social distancing and personal
hygiene which could have also
helped to reduce the transmission
of pneumonia among other infectious diseases.
Objective: To assess the effect of
COVID-19 on the incidence of
pneumonia in children seen at the
Department of Pediatrics, of a
Nigerian private University
Teaching Hospital.
Method: We retrospectively analyzed the data of the patients seen
with pneumonia in all the Pediatric units of the Teaching Hospital
from April 2019 to March 2020
(pre-pandemic period) and compared it with that of those seen
during the COVID-19 pandemic
from April 2020 to March 2021.
Result: There was a 28% decrease
in the total number of children
seen in the department from 5,657
in pre-pandemic period to 4,079 in
the pandemic period. There was a
17% decrease in the mean number
of children seen with pneumonia
monthly from 4.92 to 4.08 in the
pandemic period. This is despite
the relative increase in the incidence rate of pneumonia in children seen from 1.04% in the pre- pandemic period to 1.2% in the
pandemic period. We noted more
complications of pneumonia including heart failure and anaemia
in the pandemic period (24.5% of
cases) than in the pre-pandemic
period (15.3% of cases).
Conclusion: The incidence of
pneumonia in children seems to
have increased in the wake of the
COVID 19 pandemic.
Key words: Pneumonia, COVID- 19, Pediatrics.