Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on forensic cases in a paediatric emergency department in Türkiye

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic caused people to stay indoors, resulting in social isolation and reluctance to access healthcare services in hospitals because of the fear of acquiring COVID-19. This fear caused a decrease in health service utilization during the pandemic. Aims: To compare paediatric forensic cases admitted to an emergency department before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We retrospectively compared the age, sex, type, frequency, and distribution of forensic cases admitted to the Paediatric Emergency Department of Umraniye Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye, before the COVID-19 pandemic between 1 July 2019 and 8 March 2020, and during the pandemic between 9 March and 31 December 2020. Results: There were 226 paediatric forensic cases among 147 624 emergency admissions before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 253 among 60 764 admissions during the pandemic. The proportion of forensic cases increased from 0.15% before the pandemic to 0.41% during the pandemic. Intoxication by accidental ingestion was the most common reason for forensic cases before and during the pandemic. There was a significant increase in ingestion of corrosive material during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period. Conclusion: Parental anxiety and depression caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown resulted in decreased attention to childcare, leading to increased accidental ingestion of harmful materials among paediatric forensic cases admitted to the emergency department.