Social distancing cut down the prevalence of acute otitis media in children

Bibliographic Data

ID22090661
AuthorsHuiqian Yu (0000-0003-0734-3332, Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University, corresponding author), Dantong Gu (0000-0001-5443-0688, Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University), Fangzhou Yu (0000-0002-4860-6891, Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University), Qingzhong Li (0000-0002-7626-3929, Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume11
Pages1079263-1079263
Publication date2023-01-27
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2296-2565 • E-ISSN: 2296-2565
PublisherFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fpubh.2023.1079263
PMID36778556
OpenAlexW4318192217
LanguageEN
References cited24

Objectives: To evaluate the additional, unintended benefits of social distancing in cutting down the prevalence of acute otitis media (AOM) in children, especially during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) periods. Methods: The daily outpatient attendance of AOM for childhood (from 6 months to 12 years) was compared in the tertiary hospital in Shanghai during pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 year. Results: A total of 24,543 AOM cases were included from 2015 to 2020. When age was taken into account, children in kindergarten (aged 4-6) constitute 66.2% (16,236/24,543) of all case, followed by primary school students (6,441/24,543, 26.2%) and preschoolers 50% drop of outpatient attendance of AOM in 2020 (COVID-19 year) suggest that social distancing, mask effects and good hand hygiene can significantly reduce the incidence of AOM, which provides a preventive and therapeutic point of view for AOM

Attendance · Disease · Hygiene · Otitis · Pandemic · Social distance · Demography · Ear Surgery and Otitis Media · Medicine · Viral Infections and Immunology Research · Virology and Viral Diseases · Internal Medicine · Pediatrics · Surgery

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