Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Aug;105(2):125-130.
doi: 10.1007/s12306-021-00699-7. Epub 2021 Jan 29.

Olecranon fractures in the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic: Is non-operative treatment reasonable? Review of the current evidence

Amir Abdelmalek  1 , Mark Crowther  2
Affiliations
Review

Olecranon fractures in the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic: Is non-operative treatment reasonable? Review of the current evidence

Amir Abdelmalek et al. Musculoskelet Surg. 2021 Aug.

Abstract

The current COVID-19 global pandemic presents a major challenge and unprecedented pressures on health systems. The national guidelines in the UK advise non-operative treatment of fractures whenever possible to reduce the risk of surgical intervention to both patient and healthcare staff. The elderly population over 70 years are highlighted as a high-risk group in this pandemic as well as being often high risk for surgery in general due to co-morbidities. This article reviews the current literature regarding treatment of displaced olecranon fractures in the elderly. Literature search of the available databases. One randomised controlled trial has been published, comparing operative versus non-operative treatments of olecranon fractures in this age group. The study was terminated prematurely due to the high complication rate in the operative group. No difference in functional scores was recorded. Other published retrospective case series report good functional outcome scores and high satisfaction rates in the majority of patients in whom olecranon fractures were treated non-operatively. Non-operative treatment of olecranon fractures in elderly patients seems to be safe and an acceptable management option in these unprecedented times.

Keywords: COVID-19; Elderly patients; Literature review; Non-operative treatment; Olecranon fractures.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

References

    1. (ONS) OfNS. Living longer - Office for National Statistics [Available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarri....
    1. Team C-NIRS. COVID-19, Australia: Epidemiology Report 14 (Reporting week to 23:59 AEST 3 May 2020) (2020) Communicable diseases intelligence (2018) 44 - PubMed
    1. Liu K, Chen Y, Lin R, Han K. Clinical features of COVID-19 in elderly patients: a comparison with young and middle-aged patients. J Infect. 2020;80(6):e14–e18. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.03.005. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Muller O, Neuhann F, Razum O (2020) Epidemiology and control of COVID-19. Epidemiologie und Kontrollmasnahmen bei COVID-19 145(10):670–674 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang L, He W, Yu X, Hu D, Bao M, Liu H, et al. Coronavirus disease 2019 in elderly patients: characteristics and prognostic factors based on 4-week follow-up. J Infect. 2020;80(6):639–645. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.03.019. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources