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
. 2021 Jun 22;8(7):530.
doi: 10.3390/children8070530.

Resilience Against COVID-19: How Italy Faced the Pandemic in Pediatric Orthopedics and Traumatology

Giovanni Trisolino  1 , Renato Maria Toniolo  2 , Lorenza Marengo  3 , Daniela Dibello  4 , Pasquale Guida  5 , Elena Panuccio  6 , Andrea Evangelista  7 , Stefano Stallone  1 , Maria Lucia Sansò  5 , Carlo Amati  4 , Pier Francesco Costici  8 , Silvio Boero  3 , Pasquale Farsetti  9 , Nando De Sanctis  10 , Fabio Verdoni  11 , Antonio Memeo  6 , Cosimo Gigante  12
Affiliations

Resilience Against COVID-19: How Italy Faced the Pandemic in Pediatric Orthopedics and Traumatology

Giovanni Trisolino et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: We aimed to investigate the variation of medical and surgical activities in pediatric orthopedics in Italy, during the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, in comparison with data from the previous two years. The differences among the first wave, phase 2 and second wave were also analyzed.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective multicenter study regarding the clinical and surgical activities in pediatric orthopedics during the pandemic and pre-pandemic period. The hospital databases of seven tertiary referral centers for pediatric orthopedics and traumatology were queried for events regarding pediatric orthopedic patients from 1 March 2018 to 28 February 2021. Surgical procedures were classified according to the "SITOP Priority Panel". An additional classification in "high-priority" and "low-priority" surgery was also applied.

Results: Overall, in 2020, we observed a significant drop in surgical volumes compared to the previous two years. The decrease was different across the different classes of priority, with "high-priority" surgery being less influenced. The decrease in emergency department visits was almost three-fold greater than the decrease in trauma surgery. During the second wave, a lower decline in surgical interventions and a noticeable resumption of "low-priority" surgery and outpatient visits were observed.

Conclusion: Our study represents the first nationwide survey quantifying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric orthopedics and traumatology during the first and second wave.

Keywords: COVID-19; orthopedics; pediatrics; statistics; surgery; traumatology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Cosimo Gigante is the President of the Italian Society of Pediatric Orthopedics and Traumatology (SITOP) and receives no compensation as a member of the executive board of the SITOP. Giovanni Trisolino: Renato Maria Toniolo, Daniela Dibello, Lorenza Marengo, Pasquale Guida, Elena Panuccio, Nando de Sanctis, Fabio Verdoni and Antonio Memeo are on the executive board of SITOP and receive no compensation as a member of the executive board of the SITOP. Andrea Evangelista, Stefano Stallone, Marilù Sansò, Carlo Amati, Pierfrancesco Costici, Silvio Boero, and Pasquale Farsetti have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Graph illustrating the trend of surgical volumes in pediatric orthopedics during the period March 2018–February 2021, in relation to the pandemic situation in Italy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Trend of surgical operations during the period March 2018–February 2021: (a) divided by priority class; (b) divided high-priority/low-priority.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Trend of elective surgery during the period March 2018–February 2021: (a) in relationship with the outpatient visits; (b) in relationship with the Emergency Department (ED) visits.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Haddad F.S. The year of COVID-19. Bone Jt. J. 2020;102:1597–1598. doi: 10.1302/0301-620X.102B12.BJJ-2020-2094. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Saglietto A., D’Ascenzo F., Zoccai G.B., De Ferrari G.M. COVID-19 in Europe: The Italian lesson. Lancet. 2020;395:1110–1111. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30690-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Covid-19, Situation in Italy—Ministero Della Salute. [(accessed on 1 May 2021)];2020 Available online: http://www.salute.gov.it.
    1. Sarac N.J., Sarac B.A., Schoenbrunner A.R., Janis J.E., Harrison R.K., Phieffer L.S., Quatman C.E., Ly T.V. A Review of State Guidelines for Elective Orthopaedic Procedures During the COVID-19 Outbreak. J. Bone Jt. Surg. 2020;102:942–945. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.20.00510. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Benazzo F., Rossi S., Maniscalco P., Moretti B., Vaienti E., Ruggieri P., Massè A., Medici A., Formica A., Di Maggio B., et al. The orthopaedic and traumatology scenario during Covid-19 outbreak in Italy: Chronicles of a silent war. Int. Orthop. 2020;44:1453–1459. doi: 10.1007/s00264-020-04637-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources