Variation in the pattern of childhood respiratory viral infections during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

<b>Introduction:</b> The COVID-19 pandemic forced taking measures to restrain viral transmission. Our aim was to describe the changes in the patterns of childhood respiratory viral infections in admitted patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. <b>Methods:</b> We performed an observational study. Trends in respiratory PCR results, from all children admitted to the pediatric departments between Jan. 2015 to Aug. 2021 were evaluated using time series models. Weekly patterns were compared between pre-COVID era and COVID-19 era. <b>Results:</b> A total of 7322 pediatric admissions with respiratory viral panel PCR results from 43,466 admissions were evaluated. When comparing Pre-COVID-19 to the COVID-19 era, there was a significant decrease in the number of admissions in which a respiratory viral panel was performed (18% vs. 12%, p&lt;0.001) and a decrease in the number of panels positive for a respiratory viral pathogen (47% vs. 36%, p&lt;0.001). We observed a change in the circulation pattern of respiratory viruses during the COVID-19 era, with marked differences between different respiratory viruses; Influenza viruses completely disappeared; The peak in RSV infection was delayed from the 1st week of 2021 to the 25th week; HMPV had an attenuated peak in 2020 and peaked normally in 2021; parainfluenza viruses did not peak during 2020 with an early peak in the 1st week of 2021; Adenovirus circulation pattern was only minimally affected. <b>Conclusions:</b> This study offers a detailed picture of the change in respiratory viruses in children during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to previous years. The changes in patterns are probably related to the application of measures taken to control the SARS-CoV-2 transmission.