The Epidemiology of Fractures and Muskulo-Skeletal Traumas During COVID-19 Lockdown: A Detailed Survey of 17.591 Patients in a Wide Italian Metropolitan Area

Introduction: On 9 March 2020 the Italian Government declared a national lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. The aim of our study was to analyze the effects of such intervention on the traumatological emergency service, with particular emphasis on variations in trauma incidence and patients' characteristics.

Materials and methods: An observational analysis was performed. Medical records were collected from 3 different trauma centers within a wide metropolitan area, and compared between 2 time periods: the full Italian lockdown period and the same period from the past year. The study population included all patients who were admitted to the Emergency Department (ED). For those who accessed for orthopedic reasons, the analyzed variables included the date of ED admission, age, gender, after visit discharge or hospitalization, place where the injury occurred, traumatic mechanism, diagnosis, relationship with sport activity, and time from injury/symptoms debut to ED access.

Results: A total of 17591 ED accesses and 3163 ED trauma visits were identified. During the lockdown, ED trauma visits decreased by -59.8%, but required patient's hospitalization significantly more frequently. The rate of ED trauma admissions in the elderlies significantly increased, together with the proportion of fragility fractures such as hip fractures. Road accident traumas (-79.6%) and sport-related injuries (-96.2%) significantly dropped. Admissions for less-severe reasons such as atraumatic musculoskeletal pain significantly decreased (-81.6%).

Conclusions: The lockdown reduced the pressure on the Health System in at least 2 ways: directly, by curbing viral transmission and indirectly, by more than halving the ED trauma visits. Nonetheless, we observed an increased proportion of traumas in older patients, requiring hospitalizations, while the rate of less-severe cases decreased. This analysis may raise awareness of the effects of a lockdown on trauma services and may be helpful for those ones around the world who are now facing the emergency.