Profile Of Head And Neck Burns During COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) affected daily activities since December 2019. Burn injuries to head and neck can result in cosmetic and functional deformities. The purpose of this study was to characterize patients with burns to head and neck during the pandemic. This cross-sectional study reviewed patients in Burn Care Quality Platform Registry. Patients were included if they were age 18 years of age or older, and sustained burns to head and neck. Patients were stratified according to date of injury into (1) March 13 to September 13, 2019 (i.e., before COVID-19 pandemic, BC19) or (2) March 13 to September 13, 2020. March 13, 2020 was chosen because (1) COVID-19 was announced as a national emergency on that date and (2) it was the last day of in-person schools in state of Georgia. Data collection included patient demographics, admission details, burn details, and hospital related variables were documented. During the study period, 157 patients had burn to head and neck (BC-19; 70, C-19; 71). Our data showed a 375% increase in March following the announcement of the pandemic (BC19; 4, C19;19). Admissions from another facility were statistically more than in C19 group (p=<0.0001). For C19 group, there were 53% more admissions from ED than BC19 (p=0.001). Additionally, in BC19 group patients presented with concomitant inhalation injuries significantly more than C19 group (p=0.04). In conclusion, the total number of burns is the same during BC and C19, however there was a significant spike in number of cases in March 2020.