Trauma and Orthopedics in COVID-19 Pandemic: an Epidemiological Study in a Tertiary Center, South of Iran (preprint)

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The novel COVID-19 disease was presented at first in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. During COVID-19 pandemic, approaching trauma patients, whom could have COVID-19, is a challenging issue required special consideration and healthcare setting.Methods and materials This retrospective cohort study was conducted at Emtiaz hospital, the main trauma center of the south of Iran, between March 2020 and August 2020 from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Trauma-related data such as the mechanism of trauma, injury pattern, and surgical intervention procedure of all the suspicious COVID-19 patients were documented. ICU admission and mortality rate were investigated as outcome variables.Results: During six months of the pandemic period, 9248 patients were referred to our referral trauma center, with 222 patients suspicious of having COVID-19 infection. Among sixty-four cases, whom were confirmed to be positive, 33 orthopedic injured patients were observed. The mortality rate of COVID-19 positive cases was 15.6 % (10 patients out of 64) and COVID-19 negative ones was 10.1 % (16 patients out of 158) which was not statistically significant (p.value0.25). Multivariate analysis of the effect of the baseline and trauma related factors on mortality rate, showed that older age (p. value 0.001), COVID-19 infection (p. value 0.033), and surgical procedure (p.value0.038) are the poor prognostic factors associated with mortality rate.Conclusion: The mortality rate of trauma patients with COVID-19 positive infection was 15.6 % (10 patients). Older age, COVID-19 infection, and surgical procedure were observed as the statistically significant prognostic factors leading to more mortality rate.Level of Evidence III