The Burden of Acute Respiratory Infections on Emergency Departments: A Retrospective Study From a University Hospital in Central Italy

ABSTRACT Background and Aims Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) have a relevant impact on public health in terms of prevalence and costs associated with the diseases. While the COVID‐19 pandemic highlighted the need to adopt accurate surveillance systems to face new emergencies, the aim of our work is to describe ARIs other then COVID‐19 and their impact on healthcare facilities. Methods This retrospective study used an ecological approach to connect emergency department records and laboratory test results from a University Hospital in Italy. A time‐series analysis has been performed to assess the association between weekly pathogen‐specific positivity counts and ARI‐related ED admissions. Results During the study period, 33,101 ED presentations for ARI were registered, resulting in 7426 hospital admissions. ARI cases and viral diagnoses showed a seasonal peak during the late weeks of the year and early weeks of the following one. A reduction in ED admissions has been found in 2020, while the average weekly rate was 30.8% in 2020, as compared with 21.7% in 2017–2019. Analysis by age group showed a peak of accesses in the last weeks of 2021 for the < 1 and 1–4 years old. Conclusions Data on ARI‐related admissions highlight seasonal trends and age‐related vulnerabilities, providing evidence to guide public health policies and support health system preparedness to respond to future epidemic waves.