Severely injured patients do not disappear in a pandemic: Incidence and characteristics of severe injuries during COVID-19 lockdown in Finland
Background and purpose - COVID-19 lockdowns have resulted in noteworthy changes in trauma admissions. We report and compare the incidence and characteristics of severe injuries (New Injury Severity Score [NISS] > 15) during the COVID-19 lockdown in Finland with earlier years. Methods - We retrosp...
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| Published in: | Acta orthopaedica Vol. 92; no. 3; pp. 249 - 253 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
England
Taylor & Francis
04.05.2021
Medical Journals Sweden |
| ISSN: | 1745-3674, 1745-3682, 1745-3682 |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Background and purpose - COVID-19 lockdowns have resulted in noteworthy changes in trauma admissions. We report and compare the incidence and characteristics of severe injuries (New Injury Severity Score [NISS] > 15) during the COVID-19 lockdown in Finland with earlier years.
Methods - We retrospectively analyzed incidence rate, injury severity scores, injury patterns, and mechanisms of injury of all severely injured patients (NISS >15) in 4 Finnish hospitals (Tampere University Hospital, Kuopio University Hospital, Central Finland Hospital, Mikkeli Central Hospital) during the 11-week lockdown period (March 16-May 31, 2020) with comparison with a matching time period in earlier years (2016-2018). These 4 hospitals have a combined catchment area of 1,150,000 people or roughly one-fifth of the population of Finland.
Results - The incidence rate of severe injuries during the lockdown period was 4.9/10
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inhabitants (95% CI 3.7-6.4). The incidence rate of severe injuries during years 2016-2018 was 5.1/10
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inhabitants (CI 3.9-6.5). We could not detect a significant incidence difference between the lockdown period and the 3 previous years (incidence rate difference -0.2 (CI -2.0 to 1.7). The proportion of traffic-related accidents was 55% during the lockdown period and 51% during previous years. There were no detectable differences in injury patterns. During the lockdown period, the mean age of patients was higher (53 years vs. 47 years, p = 0.03) and the rate of severely injured elderly patients (aged 70 or more) was higher (30% vs. 16%).
Interpretation - Despite heavy social restrictions, the incidence of severe injuries during the lockdown period was similar to previous years. Notably, a decline in road use and traffic volumes did not reduce the number of severe traffic accidents. Although our data is compatible with a decrease of 2.0 to an increase of 1.7 severely injured patients per 10
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inhabitants, we conclude that severely injured patients do not disappear even during pandemic and stabile hospital resources are needed to treat these patients. |
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| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 1745-3674 1745-3682 1745-3682 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/17453674.2021.1881241 |