Trends in Pediatric Hospitalizations and Mortality during the COVID-19 Pandemic in an Urban Setting in Cameroon

Background The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Cameroon was recorded in March 2020. In response to the pandemic, most countries like Cameroon instituted a number of control measures to curb its spread accross the country. These COVID-19 control measures added to the fear of this disease within the population may have led to other detrimental health effects like: the pattern of hospitalizations and hospital outcomes. Methods We did a cross-sectional study with data from in-patient admission records of children admitted to the pediatric ward of the Regional Hospital Bamenda over a 24 months period (1st of March 2019 to the 28th of February 2021). The pre-pandemic period in Cameroon (that is, the first 12 months, from March 2019 to February 2020) and the pandemic period (that is, the last 12 months, from March 2020 to February 2021) were compared. Results A total of 2282 hospitalization records were included in the study. Most of the hospitalized children were males (57.23%). There was a 19.03% decline in pediatric hospitalizations during the first 12 months of the pandemic, which was statistically significant (p = 0.00024). The causes of hospitalizations and mortality remained similar over both periods, with severe malaria, the leading cause of admissions. Hospital deaths before and during the pandemic were 1.6% and 1.9%, respectively. Conclusion There was a statistically significant decline in pediatric hospitalizations during the first 12 months of the pandemic as compared to the same period before the pandemic. Hospital mortality and causes of hospitalizations remained similar over both the periods. Lay Summary The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a public health emergency and a challenge to the health systems of most countries worldwide. The initial response of the Cameroon government to the COVID-19 pandemic was to put a number of measures in place to stop the spread of the virus across the country. These measures, though beneficial in the fight against COVID-19 could have led to other detrimental health effects on the population, through a change in the pattern of hospitalizations and hospital outcomes, and all these were made worse by the fear of COVID within the population. We carried out a descriptive and retrospective cross-sectional study using hospitalization and mortality data from the pediatric ward of the Regional Hospital Bamenda, in Cameroon. We compared the data for the last 12 months before the pandemic (March 2019-February 2020) to that of the first 12 months during the pandemic in Cameroon (March 2020-February 2021). The comparison of the two periods showed that there was a statistically significant decline in pediatric hospitalizations during the first 12 months of the pandemic, by 19.03% (p = 0.00024). The hospital mortality rates before and during the pandemic were 1.6% and 1.9%, respectively, and the causes of these hospitalizations and mortality remained similar over both the periods.