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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Arch Plast Surg 2023; 50(01): 037-041
DOI: 10.1055/a-1950-4420
Pediatric/Craniomaxillofacial/Head & Neck
Original Article

Epidemiologic Changes of Facial Bone Fracture before and after Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Level 1 Trauma Center in Korea

Jeong Ho Kim 
1   Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Wonju Severance Christian Hospital, Yonsei University, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea
,
Chae Eun Yang 
1   Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Wonju Severance Christian Hospital, Yonsei University, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea
,
Sug Won Kim 
1   Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Wonju Severance Christian Hospital, Yonsei University, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea
,
Jiye Kim 
1   Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Wonju Severance Christian Hospital, Yonsei University, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea
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Abstract

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has had a major impact worldwide. Several countries have implemented restrictions on social interaction (“social distancing”). Several studies have reported that the epidemiology of trauma patients, such as those with facial bone fractures, has changed after COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to further explore these specific changes.

Methods This was a retrospective study of patients who presented to a single institution with facial bone fractures between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2020. Baseline patient demographics, clinical information, type of fracture, etiology, and operative management were compared before and after COVID-19.

Results Of all cases, 3,409 occurred before COVID-19, and 602 occurred after COVID-19. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the number of patients with facial fractures has not decreased significantly. A significant increase was noted in fractures that occurred outdoors (p < 0.001). However, a decrease was observed in operative management between the groups (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the proportion of assault, fall-down, industrial accident, or roll-down. In contrast, the proportion of traffic accidents and slip-down categories increased significantly (p < 0.05). Moreover, a significant decrease was found in the proportion of the sports category (p = 0.001)

Conclusions It was confirmed through this study that COVID-19 pandemic also affected epidemiology of facial fractures. Focusing on these changes, it is necessary to develop safety measures to reduce facial fractures.

Keywords

bone fracture - epidemiology - pandemic

Authors' Contributions

J.K. conceptualized this study. J.H.K. contributed to data curation. J.H.K. did formal analysis. J.H.K. investigated the study. C.E.Y., S.W.K., and J.K. were involved in methodology. S.W.K., and C.E.Y. did the project administration. C.E.Y., S.W.K., and J.K. helped in providing resources. J.H.K. helped in providing software. C.E.Y., S.W.K., and J.K. supervised the study. S.W.K. and J.K. validated the study. J.H.K. contributed to visualization. J.H.K. wrote the original draft. J.K. reviewed and edited the manuscript. All the authors provided approval of final manuscript.


Ethical Approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Wonju Severance Christian Hospital (IRB CR321049) and performed in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The informed consent was waived because this study design is a retrospective chart review.


Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 31 March 2022

Accepted: 20 September 2022

Accepted Manuscript online:
25 September 2022

Article published online:
06 February 2023

© 2023. The Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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