The effect of COVID-19 lockdown on the incidence of emergency department visits due to injuries and the most typical fractures in 4 Finnish hospitals.
Acta Orthop
; 93: 360-366, 2022 03 07.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1731698
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:
COVID-19 lockdowns have affected personal mobility and behavior worldwide. This study compared the number of emergency department (ED) visits due to injuries and typical low-energy fractures in Finland during the COVID-19 lockdown period in spring 2020 to the reference period in 2019. PATIENTS ANDMETHODS:
The data was collected retrospectively from the electronic patient records of 4 hospitals covering 1/5 of the Finnish population. We included the patients who were admitted to a hospital ED due to any injury during the lockdown period (March 18-May 31, 2020) and the reference period (March 18-May 31, 2019). We compared the differences between the average daily ED admissions in the 2 years using the zero-inflated Poisson regression model.RESULTS:
The overall number of ED visits due to injuries decreased by 16% (mean 134/day vs. 113/day, 95% CI -18 to -13). The number of ED visits due to wrist fractures decreased among women aged over 50 years by 40% (CI -59 to -9). Among women, the number of ED visits due to ankle fractures decreased by 32% (CI -52 to -5). The number of ED visits due to fractures of the upper end of the humerus decreased by 52% (CI -71 to -22) among women. The number of ED visits due to hip fractures increased by 2% (CI -16 to 24).INTERPRETATION:
Restrictions in personal mobility decreased the number of ED visits due to injuries during the pandemic. The effect can mainly be seen as a decreased number of the most typical low-energy fractures among women. In contrast, lockdown restrictions had no effect on the number of hip fractures.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Quarantine
/
Communicable Disease Control
/
Emergency Service, Hospital
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Hip Fractures
/
Hospitalization
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Acta Orthop
Journal subject:
Orthopedics
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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