Increase in trauma volume as compared to emergency department volume during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: During the months between April through June 2020 when we experienced the largest number of COVID-19 patients in our hospital, the volume of patients in the Emergency Department (ED) was decreased by more than 30%. In contrast to most early reports we did not notice a decrease in trauma volume during this time period.

Materials and methods: We compared trauma patients presenting to our Level III Trauma Center, between April 2019 through June 2019 to those presenting from April 2020 through June 2020, the initial surge in COVID-19 patients. We compared ground level falls (GLF), motor vehicle crashes (MVC), bicycle and skateboard crashes, assault, and other.

Results: There was a 13% increase in trauma patients presenting during the study period in 2020 as compared to 2019, and the total number of trauma patients as a percentage of total ED patients also increased 269/9235 (2.9%) to 308/6216 (5.0%), P < 0.0001. There was no significant difference in demographics or outcome data between the trauma patients presenting during the two time periods. Although traffic decreased by more than 40%, the number of MVC's was similar.

Conclusion: The volume of patients presenting to our Trauma Center as compared to the total ED volume increased during the time period from April through June 2020 versus the year just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the fact that the total traffic volume decreased more than 40 percent between these two time periods, the actual number of motor vehicle crashes remained similar.

Keywords: Bicycle crashes; COVID-19 pandemic; Ground level falls; Motor vehicle crashes; Trauma volume.