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    Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Okonkwo, I.N.C., Howie, A., Parry, C., Shelton, C.L., Cobley, S., Craig, R., Permall, N., El‐Sheikha, S.H., Herbert, N. and Arnold, P. (2020), The safety of paediatric surgery between COVID‐19 surges: an observational study. Anaesthesia. doi:10.1111/anae.15264 which has been published in final form at https://associationofanaesthetists-publications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/anae.15264 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

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The safety of paediatric surgery between COVID-19 surges: an observational study

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

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  • I.N.C. Okonkwo
  • A. Howie
  • C. Parry
  • C.L. Shelton
  • S. Cobley
  • R. Craig
  • N. Permall
  • S.H. El-Sheikha
  • N. Herbert
  • P. Arnold
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<mark>Journal publication date</mark>1/12/2020
<mark>Journal</mark>Anaesthesia
Issue number12
Volume75
Number of pages9
Pages (from-to)1605-1613
Publication StatusPublished
Early online date13/10/20
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Despite the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, elective paediatric surgery must continue safely through the first, second and subsequent waves of disease. This study presents outcome data from a children's hospital in north-west England, the region with the highest prevalence of COVID-19 in England. Children and young people undergoing elective surgery isolated within their household for 14 days, then presented for real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus disease-2 (SARS-CoV-2) within 72 h of their procedure (or rapid testing within 24 h in high-risk cases), and completed a screening questionnaire on admission. Planned surgery resumed on 26 May 2020; in the four subsequent weeks, there were 197 patients for emergency and 501 for elective procedures. A total of 488 out of 501 (97.4%) elective admissions proceeded, representing a 2.6% COVID-19-related cancellation rate. There was no difference in the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 among children and young people who had or had not isolated for 14 days (p > 0.99). One out of 685 (0.1%) children who had surgery re-presented to the hospital with symptoms potentially consistent with SARS-CoV-2 within 14 days of surgery. Outcomes were similar to those in the same time period in 2019 for length of stay (p = 1.0); unplanned critical care admissions (p = 0.59); and 14-day hospital re-admission (p = 0.17). However, the current cohort were younger (p = 0.037); of increased complexity (p 

Bibliographic note

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Okonkwo, I.N.C., Howie, A., Parry, C., Shelton, C.L., Cobley, S., Craig, R., Permall, N., El‐Sheikha, S.H., Herbert, N. and Arnold, P. (2020), The safety of paediatric surgery between COVID‐19 surges: an observational study. Anaesthesia. doi:10.1111/anae.15264 which has been published in final form at https://associationofanaesthetists-publications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/anae.15264 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.