For a study, researchers sought to assess the incidence of certain lower extremity (LE) injuries in the United States (US) Emergency Departments (EDs) during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyze trends across age groups and hospital admission rates compared to previous years. Patients who came to US EDs for an LE orthopedic injury between 2016 and 2020 were identified using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database. These inquiries yielded 252,656 instances, representing 9,740,514 injuries treated in emergency rooms across the United States. The mean annual incidence of LE orthopedic injuries was 596.8 per 100,000 person-years (95% CI: 594.9–598.7), with the greatest annual decline occurring between 2019 and 2020 (24.96%). With 181,671 admissions (95% CI, 178,032 – 185,311) in 2020, the highest number of predicted hospital admissions happened, a 25.74% rise from the average number of admissions between 2016 and 2019. The COVID-19 epidemic has significantly strained emergency medical services and hospital systems across the United States. During the first year of the pandemic, there was a drop in emergency department utilization for LE orthopedic issues. Still, there was a concurrent increase in the number and proportion of these injuries admitted to the hospital from the emergency department.
Source:www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0736467922002979?v=s5
