@article{ref1,
title="Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown period on adult musculoskeletal injuries and surgical management: a retrospective monocentric study",
journal="Scientific reports",
year="2021",
author="Crenn, V. and El Kinani, M. and Pietu, G. and Leteve, M. and Persigant, M. and Toanen, C. and Varenne, Y. and Goffinet, N. and Buffenoir, K. and Javaudin, F. and Montassier, E.",
volume="10",
number="1",
pages="e22442-e22442",
abstract="The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to the worldwide implementation of unprecedented public protection measures. On the 17th of March,  the French government announced a lockdown of the population for 8 weeks. This  monocentric study assessed the impact of this lockdown on the musculoskeletal  injuries treated at the emergency department as well as the surgical indications. We  carried out a retrospective study in the Emergency Department and the Surgery  Department of Nantes University Hospital from 18 February to 11 May 2020. We  collected data pertaining to the demographics, the mechanism, the type, the  severity, and inter-hospital transfer for musculoskeletal injuries from our  institution. We compared the 4-week pre-lockdown period and the 8-week lockdown  period divided into two 4-week periods: early lockdown and late lockdown. There was  a 52.1% decrease in musculoskeletal injuries among patients presenting to the  Emergency Department between the pre-lockdown and the lockdown period (weekly  incidence: 415.3 ± 44.2 vs. 198.5 ± 46.0, respectively, p < .001). The number of  patients with surgical indications decreased by 33.4% (weekly incidence: 44.3 ± 3.8  vs. 28.5 ± 10.2, p = .048). The policy for inter-hospital transfers to private  entities resulted in 64 transfers (29.4%) during the lockdown period. There was an  increase in the incidence of surgical high severity trauma (Injury Severity  Score > 16) between the pre-lockdown and the early lockdown period (2 (1.1%) vs. 7  (7.2%), respectively, p = .010) as well as between the pre-lockdown and the late  lockdown period (2 (1.1%) vs. 10 (8.3%), respectively, p = .004). We observed a  significant increase in the weekly emergency department patient admissions between  the early and the late lockdown period (161.5 ± 22.9, 235.5 ± 27.7, respectively,  p = .028). A pronounced decrease in the incidence of musculoskeletal injuries was  observed secondary to the lockdown measures, with emergency department patient  admissions being halved and surgical indications being reduced by a third. The  increase in musculoskeletal injuries during the late confinement period and the  higher incidence of severe trauma highlights the importance of maintaining a  functional trauma center organization with an inter-hospital transfer policy in case  of a COVID-19s wave lockdown.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2045-2322",
doi="10.1038/s41598-020-80309-x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80309-x"
}