Healthcare visits for new neurodevelopmental problems before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted healthcare delivery. We hypothesized that children with neurodevelopmental problems would have reduced healthcare utilization during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic.

Methods

We conducted a population-based study of healthcare visits for new neurodevelopmental problems among children ages 0–6 years in Ontario, Canada. Our outcome measure was rate per 1000 children-months for healthcare visits for new neurodevelopmental problems. We compared changes in monthly rates before and during the pandemic using interrupted time series analysis (ITSA).

Results

The rate of new neurodevelopmental problems before the pandemic was 6.31 per 1000 children-months and during the pandemic was 6.58 per 1000 children-months. However, using ITSA, there were no differences in monthly rates of healthcare visits for new neurodevelopmental problems before and during the pandemic. The observed rate during the first 30 days of the pandemic dropped to 3.40 per 1000 children-months.

Conclusion

We found no significant difference in rates of healthcare visits for new neurodevelopmental problems before and during the pandemic. There was a decrease in the number of visits during the first 30 days of the pandemic compared to all months prior.

Impact

This study found no significant difference in rates of healthcare visits for new neurodevelopmental problems before and during the pandemic.

There was a decrease in the number of visits during the first 30 days of the pandemic compared to all months prior.

This study adds information on healthcare access for children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rapid deployment of virtual healthcare delivery in Ontario, Canada may explain the fast recovery of healthcare utilization for children with neurodevelopmental problems.