The Trends in Volume of Trauma-Related Visits to Emergency Department During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Aim: After the first case in Wuhan, China in late 2019, COVID-19 quickly spread and affected the whole world. While it had been recommended to postpone healthcare services for non-emergency cases, several studies showed that many emergency cases were decreased as well. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the trends in visits to the emergency department (ED) were altered during the COVID period. Materials: We evaluated the ED visits between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020 due to transport injuries, falls, interpersonal violence and self-harm using International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision codes. Pre-COVID period was defined as July 2019-Mar 2020 and COVID period was defined as April-June 2020. To show whether there was a significant change between pre-COVID and COVID periods (monthly), we used piecewise regression analyses. Results: In total, there were 14,958 ED visits due to transport injuries, falls, interpersonal violence and self-harm during the study period. Piecewise regression analysis revealed that ED visits for transport injury (p=0.028), falls (p=0.006) and interpersonal violence (p=0.007) significantly decreased, whereas, there was a significant increase in visits for self-harm (p<0.001) in COVID period, when compared with pre-COVID period. Conclusion: This is the first study showing that the number of ED visits for transport injury, falls and interpersonal violence were decreased and those for self-harm were increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. A maximum effort should be made by authorities to understand the reason behind these trends, particularly for self-harm behaviors.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• wounds and injuries
• accidental falls
• violence
• self-injurious behavior
• traffic accidents

COVID-19 Salgını Sırasında Travmaya Bağlı Acil Servis Başvurularındaki Değişimler

Abstract

Amaç: 2019'un sonlarında Çin'in Wuhan kentinde yaşanan ilk vakanın ardından COVID-19 hızla yayıldı ve tüm dünyayı etkiledi. Acil olmayan vakalar için sağlık hizmetlerinin ertelenmesi önerilmiş olsa da, birkaç çalışmada birçok acil vakanın da azaldığı gösterilmiştir. Bu çalışmada, travma kaynaklı acil servis başvurularının COVID-19 pandemisi sırasındaki değişimini araştırmayı amaçladık. Yöntem: ICD-10 kodları kullanılarak 1 Temmuz 2019 - 30 Haziran 2020 tarihleri arasında trafik kazası, düşme, darp ve özkıyım nedeniyle acil servis başvuran hastalar belirlendi. COVID öncesi dönem Temmuz 2019-Mart 2020, COVID dönemi ise Nisan-Haziran 2020 olarak tanımlandı. COVID öncesi ve COVID dönemleri arasındaki değişimin değerlendirilmesi için parçalı regresyon analizleri kullanıldı. Bulgular: Çalışma döneminde trafik kazası, düşme, darp ve özkıyım nedeniyle toplam 14.958 acil servis başvurusu yapılmıştı. COVID döneminde, COVID öncesi döneme kıyasla trafik kazası (p = 0,028), düşme (p = 0,006) ve darp (p = 0,007) sebebiyle yapılan acil servis başvurularında anlamlı azalma, özkıyım sebebiyle yapılan başvurularda ise anlamlı artma olduğu görüldü (p<0,001). Sonuç: COVID-19 salgını sırasında trafik kazası, düşme ve darp nedeniyle yapılan acil servis başvurularının azaldığı, özkıyım nedeniyle yapılan başvuruların ise arttığı görülmektedir. Başvuru sıklıklarındaki bu değişimlerin arkasındaki nedenlerin anlaşılması için azami çaba gösterilmelidir.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• düşme
• darp
• özkıyım
• trafik kazası

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