Given COVID-19 pandemic periodic outpatient assessment of otitis-prone children regularly followed at our tertiary outpatient clinic of upper respiratory tract infections was discontinued since 9 March. In order to avoid leaving the patients to themselves just during the winter months, which are the most critical ones for these children, we kept in touch with the families of 102 children (mean age 41.4 ± 14.0 months) who had had a follow-up visit scheduled during the lockdown, and compensated with telemedicine assessment. This incidentally leads to the unexpected but not at all negative finding that a consistent clinical improvement had been occurred in most (82.3%) of children. A statistically significant reduction in the mean number of documented acute otitis media episodes, otorrhea episodes, and systemic antibiotic treatments during the February–April 2020 period compared with February–April 2019 was attested. Clinical evaluation performed in 27.4% cases revealed normal middle ear findings in all but three (89.3%) children. Conclusion: Our data document a global improvement of otitis-prone children in Milan during the Italian lockdown, as a fortuitous and incidental positive effect of the national lockdown.What is Know:• During COVID-19 pandemic in Italy any non-urgent medical activity including periodic outpatient assessment of otitis-prone children was discontinued.• Otitis-prone children experience acute infectious exacerbations mainly in winter.What is New:• Most of children reached by means of a telemedicine assessment during lockdown experienced a subjective clinical improvement; clinical assessment at the end of the lockdown revealed normal otoscopic findings in most cases.• Exceptional circumstances during COVID-19 pandemic had a fortuitous positive effect on otitis-prone children’s clinical conditions.

Incidental lowering of otitis-media complaints in otitis-prone children during COVID-19 pandemic: not all evil comes to hurt / S. Torretta, P. Capaccio, I. Coro, S. Bosis, M.E. Pace, P. Tosi, L. Pignataro, P. Marchisio. - In: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PEDIATRICS. - ISSN 0340-6199. - (2020). [Epub ahead of print] [10.1007/s00431-020-03747-9]

Incidental lowering of otitis-media complaints in otitis-prone children during COVID-19 pandemic: not all evil comes to hurt

S. Torretta
Primo
;
P. Capaccio
Secondo
;
S. Bosis;M.E. Pace;L. Pignataro
Penultimo
;
P. Marchisio
Ultimo
2020

Abstract

Given COVID-19 pandemic periodic outpatient assessment of otitis-prone children regularly followed at our tertiary outpatient clinic of upper respiratory tract infections was discontinued since 9 March. In order to avoid leaving the patients to themselves just during the winter months, which are the most critical ones for these children, we kept in touch with the families of 102 children (mean age 41.4 ± 14.0 months) who had had a follow-up visit scheduled during the lockdown, and compensated with telemedicine assessment. This incidentally leads to the unexpected but not at all negative finding that a consistent clinical improvement had been occurred in most (82.3%) of children. A statistically significant reduction in the mean number of documented acute otitis media episodes, otorrhea episodes, and systemic antibiotic treatments during the February–April 2020 period compared with February–April 2019 was attested. Clinical evaluation performed in 27.4% cases revealed normal middle ear findings in all but three (89.3%) children. Conclusion: Our data document a global improvement of otitis-prone children in Milan during the Italian lockdown, as a fortuitous and incidental positive effect of the national lockdown.What is Know:• During COVID-19 pandemic in Italy any non-urgent medical activity including periodic outpatient assessment of otitis-prone children was discontinued.• Otitis-prone children experience acute infectious exacerbations mainly in winter.What is New:• Most of children reached by means of a telemedicine assessment during lockdown experienced a subjective clinical improvement; clinical assessment at the end of the lockdown revealed normal otoscopic findings in most cases.• Exceptional circumstances during COVID-19 pandemic had a fortuitous positive effect on otitis-prone children’s clinical conditions.
Children; COVID-19; Infection; Otitis media; Otitis-prone
Settore MED/31 - Otorinolaringoiatria
2020
lug-2020
Article (author)
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Torretta2020_Article_IncidentalLoweringOfOtitis-med.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Publisher's version/PDF
Dimensione 203.87 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
203.87 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/774528
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 19
  • Scopus 32
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 34
social impact