Impact of the first COVID-19 shutdown on patient volumes and surgical procedures of a Level I trauma center.
Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg
; 47(3): 665-675, 2021 Jun.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1195138
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
In Dec 2019, COVID-19 was first recognized and led to a worldwide pandemic. The German government implemented a shutdown in Mar 2020, affecting outpatient and hospital care. The aim of the present article was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 shutdown on patient volumes and surgical procedures of a Level I trauma center in Germany.METHODS:
All emergency patients were recorded retrospectively during the shutdown and compared to a calendar-matched control period (CTRL). Total emergency patient contacts including trauma mechanisms, injury patterns and operation numbers were recorded including absolute numbers, incidence proportions and risk ratios.RESULTS:
During the shutdown period, we observed a decrease of emergency patient cases (417) compared to CTRL (575), a decrease of elective cases (42 vs. 13) and of the total number of operations (397 vs. 325). Incidence proportions of emergency operations increased from 8.2 to 12.2% (shutdown) and elective surgical cases decreased (11.1 vs. 4.3%). As we observed a decrease for most trauma mechanisms and injury patterns, we found an increasing incidence proportion for severe open fractures. Household-related injuries were reported with an increasing incidence proportion from 26.8 to 47.5% (shutdown). We found an increasing tendency of trauma and injuries related to psychological disorders.CONCLUSION:
This analysis shows a decrease of total patient numbers in an emergency department of a Level I trauma center and a decrease of the total number of operations during the shutdown period. Concurrently, we observed an increase of severe open fractures and emergency operations. Furthermore, trauma mechanism changed with less traffic, work and sports-related accidents.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Surgical Procedures, Operative
/
Trauma Centers
/
Wounds and Injuries
/
Infection Control
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S00068-021-01654-8
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS