@article{ref1,
title="Impact of easing COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on traumatic injuries in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: one-year experience at a major trauma centre",
journal="BMC public health",
year="2023",
author="Alharbi, Rayan Jafnan and Al-Jafar, Rami and Chowdhury, Sharfuddin and Rahman, Muhammad Aziz and Almuwallad, Ateeq and Alshibani, Abdullah and Lewis, Virginia",
volume="23",
number="1",
pages="e22-e22",
abstract="INTRODUCTION: Lockdown restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have reduced the number of injuries recorded. However, little is known about the impact of easing COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on the nature and outcome of injuries. This study aims to compare injury patterns prior to and after the easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in Saudi Arabia. <br><br>METHOD: Data were collected retrospectively from the Saudi TraumA Registry for the period between March 25, 2019, and June 21, 2021. These data corresponded to three periods: March 2019-February 2020 (pre-restrictions, period 1), March 2020-June 2020 (lockdown, period 2), and July 2020-June 2021 (post easing of restrictions, period 3). Data related to patients' demographics, mechanism and severity of injury, and in-hospital mortality were collected and analysed. <br><br>RESULTS: A total of 5,147 traumatic injury patients were included in the analysis (pre-restrictions n = 2593; lockdown n = 218; post easing of lockdown restrictions n = 2336). An increase in trauma cases (by 7.6%) was seen in the 30-44 age group after easing restrictions (n = 648 vs. 762, p < 0.01). Motor vehicle crashes (MVC) were the leading cause of injury, followed by falls in all the three periods. MVC-related injuries decreased by 3.1% (n = 1068 vs. 890, p = 0.03) and pedestrian-related injuries decreased by 2.7% (n = 227 vs. 143, p < 0.01); however, burn injuries increased by 2.2% (n = 134 vs. 174, p < 0.01) and violence-related injuries increased by 0.9% (n = 45 vs. 60, p = 0.05) post easing of lockdown restrictions. We observed an increase in in-hospital mortality during the period of 12 months after easing of lockdown restrictions-4.9% (114/2336) compared to 12 months of pre-lockdown period-4.3% (113/2593). <br><br>CONCLUSION: This is one of the first studies to document trauma trends over a one-year period after easing lockdown restrictions. MVC continues to be the leading cause of injuries despite a slight decrease; overall injury cases rebounded towards pre-lockdown levels in Saudi Arabia. Injury prevention needs robust legislation with respect to road safety measures and law enforcement that can decrease the burden of traumatic injuries.  Keywords: CoViD-19-Road-Traffic  <p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1471-2458",
doi="10.1186/s12889-023-14981-9",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-14981-9"
}