The number of PICU admissions for SAA
Between January 2018 and December 2021, 168 children were admitted to
the PICU of the Amsterdam UMC for SAA. In the pre-pandemic years,
admissions tended to peak in April; however, this was not observed for
the pandemic years of 2020 or 2021. In 2021, a peak in admissions in the
months August to November was observed instead (Figure 1). When
comparing the trend of PICU admissions for SAA to the total PICU
admission numbers of 2018-2021 in the Amsterdam UMC, it was observed
that the peak of admissions for SAA in the fall of 2021 did not
correspond to an increased overall admission rate at the PICU (Figure
S1). The ratio of PICU admissions due to SAA relative to the total
number of PICU admissions for the August to November peak (13% in
August, 14% in September, 16% in October and 15% in November) was
higher than that typically observed, as well as the peak month of April
in the pre-pandemic years (10% in 2018 and 11% in 2019). Moreover, the
annual relative percentage of PICU admissions due to SAA of the total
PICU admissions was highest in 2021 (8%), followed by 2019 (6%), and
2020 and 2018 followed after (both with 5%) (Table S1).