Three Years of COVID-19 on Orthopaedic Trauma; Are We Going Back to Normality?

Abstract

Background and Objective: On March 2020, our country became a protected area due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The consequences of COVID-19 on trauma surgery were great. We aimed to evaluate the activity of the Trauma Centre of a highly populated suburban area over 30 days starting from the first day of restrictions, to compare it with the same period of 2019 and 2022 and to evaluate whether a progressive return to normality has taken place. Materials and Methods: All patients older than 18 years managed in our Trauma Unit between 8 March 2020 and 8 April 2020 (the first COVID-19 period) were compared to the same period of 2019 (a COVID-19 free period) and 2022 (the second COVID-19 period). Clinical records were examined. Five categories of diagnoses and six mechanisms of injury were distinguished. Results: There were 1351 patients [M:719–F:632; mean age (SD):49.9 (18.7)], 451 [M:228–F:223; mean age (SD):55.9 (18.4)] and 894 [M:423–F:471;mean age (SD):54.1 (16.7)] in the COVID-19 free and in the first and second COVID-19 periods, respectively (p Conclusions: COVID-19 has markedly altered orthopaedic trauma. Injuries related to sports and high energy trauma/traffic accidents drastically reduced in 2020; however, we are slowly going back to normality: the same injuries increased in 2022 due to the progressive easing of restrictions. Elderly fractures related to accidental falls remained unchanged.

Keywords

• COVID-19 pandemic
• COVID-19 orthopaedic
• COVID-19 traumatology
• COVID-19 impact on trauma surgery
• orthopaedic trauma during COVID-19
• COVID-19 impact on shoulder trauma