<![CDATA[Highlights: The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the disease severity of pediatric lupus patients in the post-pandemic period. Pediatric lupus patients at Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia, were predominantly classified as severity level 1, consisting mostly of inpatients without complications or comorbidities. Abstract Introduction: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused significant disruptions to healthcare systems globally, particularly affecting children with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and potentially increasing disease severity. This study assessed the impact of the pandemic on clinical outcomes in children with SLE to support better disease management and resource allocation during future health crises. Methods: Data from 2,120 pediatric SLE medical records at Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia, were analyzed using the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0. The normality test indicated a non-normal distribution (Sig.=0.000). Therefore, comparisons of disease severity across three periods (pre-, during, and post-pandemic) were conducted using the Kruskal-Wallis test, while pairwise comparisons between periods (pre- vs during, during vs post, and pre- vs post-pandemic) were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Significant changes in disease severity were found between during and after (p=0.000) and before and after (p=0.006) the pandemic in inpatient groups. Analysis across three periods confirmed these changes. Outpatients showed no significant changes in severity (p=1.000). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic affected disease severity in pediatric SLE patients at Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia. While no significant change in severity was observed during the pandemic, disease severity increased in the post-pandemic phase.]]>
Copyrights © 2026
