Comparison of Outcomes for Emergency Medical Services-Transported Infants With Suspected Brief Resolved Unexplained Events Before and After the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.

Abstract

Objectives: This study compares care-seeking behavior, care delivery, and outcomes for infants with suspected brief resolved unexplained events (BRUEs) who were treated by emergency medical services (EMS) and emergency department clinicians before and after the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and stay-at-home mandates.

Methods: This multicenter, retrospective observational study uses prehospital and hospital data on EMS-treated infants (age ≤12 months) with a primary paramedic impression of BRUE. We evaluated interventions, management, and outcomes, including transports and admissions, before (April 2019 to February 2020) and after (April 2020 to February 2021) the start of the pandemic and stay-at-home mandates in March 2020. We also characterized longitudinal trends in transports and hospital admissions for BRUE infants between July 2017 and February 2021. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and interrupted time series modeling.

Results: There were no significant differences in demographic characteristics or infant presentations before and after the beginning of the pandemic and stay-at-home mandates. We noted an increase in transports during the before period, but transports plateaued in the after period. There was no significant difference in admissions between the before and after periods.

Conclusions: For EMS-treated infants with paramedic-suspected BRUE, presentations and hospital admissions were similar before and after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home mandates. There was a longitudinal increase in EMS transports for infants with suspected BRUE before the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home mandates, which then leveled off in the after period.