One‐year changes in the pediatric emergency department caused by prolonged COVID‐19 pandemic

Background With the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic lasting for more than a year, it is imperative to identify the associated changes in the use of emergency medical care for efficient operation of the PED. This study was conducted to determine the long‐term impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the patterns of PED visits. Methods This is a retrospective observational study of visits to the PED of six hospitals, between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2020. We compared changes in the characteristics of patients before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Results A total of 245,022 visits were included in this analysis. After the first case of COVID‐19 was reported in Korea, we observed a significant decrease (54.2%) in PED visits compared to the annual average number of visits in the previous three years. Since then, the weekly number of PED visits decreased by 11.9 person/week (95% CI: ‐15.3 to ‐8.4, P