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Pediatric facial fracture patients were more likely to be admitted during COVID-19 pandemic than before
Zhazira Irgebay, BA; Allison K. Mak, BA; Jesse A. Goldstein, MD; Joseph E. Losee, MD
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
2022-01-26
Presenter: Zhazira Irgebay
Affidavit:
This student was responsible for over half of the conception, design, data collection, analysis of data, and abstract drafting for this project.
Director Name: Vu T Nguyen
Author Category: Medical Student
Presentation Category: Clinical
Abstract Category: Craniomaxillofacial
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic lead to suspension of elective surgeries. We present the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric facial fracture patterns.
Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of pediatric facial fracture patients who presented to a pediatric level I trauma center before and during the pandemic. There were 70 patients in the pre-pandemic cohort and 39 in the pandemic cohort.
Results: One hundred and nine patients were included. Mean age in the pre-pandemic cohort was 11.6 +/- 4.5 years old (n = 70) and 11.1 +/- 4.7 in the pandemic cohort (n = 39; p = 0.623). Motor vehicle of accidents were the most common cause of injury during the pandemic (n = 16, 41.0%), compared to sports in pre-pandemic (n = 21, 30.0%). The most common fracture during the pandemic was nasal fracture (n = 26, 66.7%), same as in the pre-pandemic cohort (n = 59, 84.3%). There were more skull (n = 7, 17.9%, p = 0.01) and orbital (n = 9, 23.1%, p = 0.033) fractures during the pandemic, as well as more floor (n = 20, 51.3%, p = 0.006) and ICU admissions (n = 7, 17.9%, p = 0.033). There was no difference in operative rate during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic (41.0% vs 48.6%, p = 0.548).
Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic caused a global stoppage of sports and outdoor activities. As a result, greater proportion of fractures were due to motor vehicle accidents, leading to proportionally greater rates of admissions.
