Has Otitis Media Disappeared during COVID-19 Pandemic? A Fortuitus Effect of Domestic Confinement

Background: To measure patient flow at our Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) duringthe Italian lockdown, with particular care in terms of otolaryngological (ENT)-related diagnoses.Methods: A retrospective evaluation of electronic charts of children admitted to our PED in theCity Center of Milan (Italy) for any disease. The outcome was to compare distribution of diagnosesperformed at our PED during 21 February–3 May 2019 (period 1) to 21 February–3 May 2020(period 2). Results: A total of 4538 children were evaluated during period 1 compared to 1310 duringperiod 2. A statistically significant overall effect on diagnosis between the study periods was attested(p-value < 0.001; pseudo R2 = 0.010), ENT-related diagnoses being more frequently documented inperiod 1 (80.4% vs. 19.5%;p-value < 0.001), as well as those related to middle ear infections (92.8%vs. 7.2%;p-value < 0.001). Non-complicated acute otitis media more frequently occurred inperiod 1(92.0% vs. 8.0%;p-value < 0.001); no significant difference in the number of complicated middleear infections occurred (95.8% vs. 4.2%). Conclusions: The exceptional circumstances of the Italianlockdown resulted in a significant decrease in patients’ attendance to our PED, especially whenconsidering diagnoses related to any ENT disorder, middle ear disease, and non-complicated middleear infection