Parents of hospitalized children with chronic illness (HCCI) during the COVID-19 epidemic may face huge pressure and worry, leading to mental health issues. Parent’s depression and anxiety disorders increase the risk of mental health problems in the child and affect his/her recovery.

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence rate of depressive and anxiety symptoms among a pilot sample of parents of HCCI (in- and out-patients) with diagnosis of epilepsy (9), cystic fibrosis (8) and congenital heart anomalies (6) during COVID-19 pandemic. Pediatric patients were under a regular Children Hospital medical and psychological follow-up program.

We conducted a cross-sectional study among 23 Italian parents (15 F; 8 M) of HCCI during the COVID-19 epidemic period. We performed face-to face interviews and assessed depressive and anxiety symptoms with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorders (GAD-7) questionnaire during scheduled follow up visits.

The anxiety score of parents of HCCI was 4.43 ± 3.17, of which 39.1% of parents were anxious (≥5 points), while the depression score was 4.04 ± 2.67, of which 30.4% of parents show depressive symptoms (≥5 points). The prevalence of comorbid depressive and anxiety symptoms was 26.1% among the entire sample.

Preliminary data of our pilot study showed a high prevalence of anxious depressive symptoms and comorbidity among parents of HCCI. Timely provision of psychologic interventions are needed during and after COVID-19 pandemic in order to empower parenting and promote children recovery and quality of life.

No significant relationships.

The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that the prehospital time between injury and arrival at a trauma center for critically injured children is associated with patient injury severity and mode of transport.

Secondary analysis of prospectively collected data on children 0-17 years of age admitted with traumatic injuries to a designated Level I pediatric trauma center from January 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007 was conducted. Multivariate regression methods were used to assess for factors independently associated with prehospital time.

Of 1,175 admissions during the study period, only 355 (30%) had a prehospital time within 60 minutes of injury. Prehospital time within 60 minutes of injury was associated with higher frequency of coma, higher mean injury severity scores (ISS), and greater frequency of admission to the intensive care unit when compared with prehospital time beyond 60 minutes of injury. Children who arrived at the trauma center within 60 minutes versus beyond 60 minutes were 13-fold (odds ratio [OR]: 12.9; 95% Confidence Interval [CI], 7.6-22.0) more likely to be transported via air ambulance than a private vehicle, and had 4.8-fold greater odds (95% CI, 2.2-10.3) of transport via ground ambulance than private vehicle. For each kilometer of distance between the injury zip code and the trauma center, the odds of arrival within 60 minutes versus beyond 60 minutes decreased by 15% (OR: 0.85; 95% CI, 0.79-0.91).

Field triage and decision making appeared to correlate with severity of patient injury with expeditious transport of the most severely injured children to definitive trauma care. This finding serves as important groundwork that might enable further study into factors that influence triage and overall prehospital care for critically injured children.

OdetolaFO , MannNC , HansenKW , BrattonSL . Factors Associated with Time to Arrival at a Regional Pediatric Trauma Center. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(1):4–9.