The arrival of the Omicron variant at the end of 2021 increased the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in young children in Canada sevenfold, according to a new study published on Thursday.
The number of hospital stays in children aged 0 to 4 due to the virus has thus increased from 325 in 2020-2021 to 2315 in 2021-2022, an increase of more than 600%. Due to this marked increase, COVID-19 has risen to 6e ranked as the most common cause of hospitalization in children, according to the latest report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
This upward trend, the DD Caroline Quach-Thanh, pediatrician at CHU Sainte-Justine, observed her in the field. “Before Omicron, children had been relatively unaffected. During Omicron, there was a big increase in cases of infections and therefore, in [conséquence]more hospitalizations too, ”explains the specialist.
During this period, 10 to 12 children were admitted to the CHU Sainte-Justine every day for an infection linked to COVID-19, recalls the DD Quach-Thanh.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The DD Caroline Quach-Thanh, pediatrician at CHU Sainte-Justine
[Les enfants] weren’t necessarily sicker, but there were a lot more than before.
The DD Caroline Quach-Thanh, pediatrician at CHU Sainte-Justine
This increase in hospitalizations due to illnesses of viral origin also coincided with the gradual relaxation of public health measures across the country, notes Nathalie Grandvaux, researcher at the research laboratory on the host response to viral infections of the CHUM.
Respiratory infections on the rise
In addition, respiratory infections, including pneumonia, and other viral infections also made their way into the top 10 diagnoses requiring hospital stays in young children. However, they were not included in the first year of the pandemic.
Results that do not surprise the DD Quach-Thanh. “In the first year, we had almost no other respiratory viruses circulating. With the relaxation of sanitary measures, we saw the reappearance of all the viruses that had not appeared,” she said.
In recent months, the number of hospitalizations related to COVID-19 in children has fallen sharply, but respiratory viruses remain present. “I have almost no more hospitalized cases of COVID-19. You can count them on the fingers of one hand. Children are rather hospitalized for other respiratory viruses ”, observes the DD Quach-Thanh.
Hospitalizations on the rise with Omicron
During the Omicron wave, adults were not spared from COVID-19 either. Since the start of the pandemic, three-quarters of Quebecers aged 60 and under have contracted the virus, with the majority of infections having occurred in the past year.
During the passage of Omicron, the virus became the main reason for hospitalization in the country (all age groups combined) after childbirth, ranking first. The previous year, the virus was rather in seventh position.
The number of hospital stays related to COVID-19 has thus increased from 47,715 in 2020-2021 to 77,344 in 2021-2022, an increase of more than 60%. “The average length of stay in hospital was 10 days,” said Tanya Khan, operations manager of clinico-administrative databases at CIHI.
Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 are stabilizing
Currently, the number of Quebecers hospitalized with COVID-19 tends to stabilize after a month and a half of decline. On Wednesday, Quebec counted 1,324 people hospitalized who tested positive for COVID-19, a stable trend over one week. Of this number, 479 patients were hospitalized directly because of their infection, the others having been admitted for another reason. If all hospitalizations stabilize, those directly due to COVID-19 are up 12% over one week. This stabilization of hospitalizations thus seems to put an end to the improvement observed since mid-January, when the situation in hospitals was gradually easing. The National Institute of Excellence in Public Health (INESSS), which analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on the hospital network, also expects a slight upturn in activity in the coming weeks. Its most recent update predicts “a slight increase in new hospitalizations over the next two weeks.” The death toll from COVID-19 is also stable. The five deaths reported on Wednesday bring the daily average calculated over seven days to six, the same as a week ago.
With the collaboration of Pierre-André Normandin, The Press