{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T06:15:49Z","timestamp":1788156949682,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788134400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Pediatr."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Pediatric hospital admissions and emergency department visits decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary objective of this study was to determine if pediatric patients hospitalized during the pandemic were more severely ill compared with those during the pre-pandemic period by measuring severity of illness, intensive care unit admissions, and length of stay.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A cross-sectional study was conducted of patients admitted to an urban, large children's hospital in the Mid-Southern US from 2016 to 2021. A total of 58,369 admissions were included, with 42,877 pre-pandemic and 15,492 pandemic admissions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>During the pandemic, admissions of more severe illnesses increased significantly compared with pre-pandemic admissions. Intensive care unit admission rates increased during the pandemic (11%) compared with pre-pandemic levels (9.9%). Length of stay did not differ.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The severity of illness for hospitalized pediatric patients increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase may stem from unmet medical needs; patients must still receive routine, acute, and chronic care.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fped.2026.1849661","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T05:40:56Z","timestamp":1788154856000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Impact of COVID-19 on the severity and length of stay among hospitalized pediatric patients"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Faria","family":"Abdullah","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"General Pediatrics, Le Bonheur Children\u2019s Hospital","place":["Memphis, TN, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center","place":["Memphis, TN, United 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