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. 2020 Aug;44(8):1453-1459.
doi: 10.1007/s00264-020-04637-3. Epub 2020 Jun 26.

The orthopaedic and traumatology scenario during Covid-19 outbreak in Italy: chronicles of a silent war

Francesco Benazzo  1   2   3 , Stefano Marco Paolo Rossi  4 , Pietro Maniscalco  5 , Biagio Moretti  6 , Enrico Vaienti  7 , Pietro Ruggieri  8 , Alessandro Massè  9 , Antonio Medici  10 , Alessandro Formica  11 , Bruno Di Maggio  12 , Vincenzo Caiaffa  13 , Mario Mosconi  2   3 , Luigi Murena  14 , Fabio D'Angelo  15 , Alberto Belluati  16 , Emilio Luigi Mazza  17 , Fabrizio Rivera  18 , Alberto Castelli  2 , Matteo Ghiara  2 , Marco Rosolani  2 , Raffaele Cioffi  10 , Raffaele Pezzella  10 , Gabriele Scaravilli  12 , Giovanni Bove  19 , Placido Stissi  15 , Michael Mazzacane  15 , Fabrizio Quattrini  5 , Corrado Ciatti  5 , Giulia Trovarelli  8 , Elisa Pala  8 , Andrea Angelini  8 , Francesco Sanna  18 , Daniela Nonne  18 , Andrea Colombelli  16 , Filippo Raggini  16 , Agnese Puzzo  16 , Gianluca Canton  14 , Guido Maritan  14 , Angela Iuliano  17 , Pietro Randelli  17 , Giuseppe Solarino  6 , Lorenzo Moretti  6 , Giovanni Vicenti  6 , Nunzia Garofalo  13 , Vittorio Nappi  13 , Simone Ripanti  11 , Carmela Chinni  11 , Francesco Pogliacomi  7 , Alberto Visigalli  7 , Nathalie Bini  9 , Alessandro Aprato  9 , Loris Perticarini  1
Affiliations

The orthopaedic and traumatology scenario during Covid-19 outbreak in Italy: chronicles of a silent war

Francesco Benazzo et al. Int Orthop. 2020 Aug.

Abstract

Background: From February 21, the day of hospitalisation in ICU of the first diagnosed case of Covid-19, the social situation and the hospitals' organisation throughout Italy dramatically changed.

Methods: The CIO (Club Italiano dell'Osteosintesi) is an Italian society devoted to the study of traumatology that counts members spread in public and private hospitals throughout the country. Fifteen members of the CIO, Chairmen of 15 Orthopaedic and Trauma Units of level 1 or 2 trauma centres in Italy, have been involved in the study. They were asked to record data about surgical, outpatients clinics and ER activity from the 23rd of February to the 4th of April 2020. The data collected were compared with the data of the same timeframe of the previous year (2019).

Results: Comparing with last year, overall outpatient activity reduced up to 75%, overall Emergency Room (ER) trauma consultations up to 71%, elective surgical activity reduced up to 100% within two weeks and trauma surgery excluding femoral neck fractures up to 50%. The surgical treatment of femoral neck fractures showed a stable reduction from 15 to 20% without a significant variation during the timeframe.

Conclusions: Covid-19 outbreak showed a tremendous impact on all orthopaedic trauma activities throughout the country except for the surgical treatment of femoral neck fractures, which, although reduced, did not change in percentage within the analysed timeframe.

Keywords: Covid-19; Orthopaedics; Outbreak; Pandemic; Traumatology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Image of an Excel file completed weekly by each centre
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
On the left side, comparison of the overall outpatient clinic activity between 2020 and 2019; on the right side, cumulative data of outpatient clinic activity per each week considered in 2020 divided for each category
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
On the left side, comparison of the overall ER activity between 2020 and 2019; on the right side, cumulative data of ER trauma cases per each week considered in 2020 divided for each category
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
On the left side, comparison of the overall elective surgical activity between 2020 and 2019; on the right side, cumulative data of surgical activity per each week considered in 2020 divided for each category
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