Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Headache Evaluations in the Pediatric Emergency Department

March 5, 2024 updated by: Alberto Cappellari, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico

Background: To evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on evaluations in the pediatric emergency department (ED) because of headache as main symptom.

Methods: Number and clinical features of patients evaluated in the pediatric ED of a single site in Milan,Italy, were collected between January 2017 and January 2022. The impact of COVID-19 on evaluation rates was quantified by using the incidence rate ratio (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) between the pandemic (March 2020 to January 2022) and the prepandemic period (January 2017 to February 2020).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

700

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Italy
      • Milan, Italy
        • Pediatric Emergency Department Clinica de Marchi, Foundation IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

N/A

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

patients aged 2-18 years evaluated in Pediatric Emergency Department because of headache as main symptom

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • range of age: 2 - 18 years
  • sex: all
  • headache as main symptom

Exclusion Criteria:

  • headache in the context of head trauma, because of different diagnostic-care in Pediatric Emergency Department

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
During the study period, 890 evaluations were registered: the number of partecipants was 689 over the prepandemic period and 201 over the pandemic period. Mean age at evaluation was 10 years (range: 1 to 17 years).
Time Frame: the pandemic (March 2020 to January 2022) and the prepandemic period (January 2017 to February 2020).
the pandemic (March 2020 to January 2022) and the prepandemic period (January 2017 to February 2020).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Evaluation rates per month were 18.1 during the prepandemic period and 8.7 during COVID-19 pandemic, with peaks in autumn and winter and drops in summer. The reduction in evaluation rate was higher for secondary headache when compared with primary one
Time Frame: the pandemic (March 2020 to January 2022) and the prepandemic period (January 2017 to February 2020).
the pandemic (March 2020 to January 2022) and the prepandemic period (January 2017 to February 2020).

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

April 30, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 30, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

May 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 4, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 5, 2024

First Posted (Estimated)

March 6, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

March 6, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 5, 2024

Last Verified

March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CEFA-COVID

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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