Shack M, L Davis A, WJ Zhang E, Rosenfield D. Bicycle injuries presenting to the emergency department during COVID-19 lockdown.
J Paediatr Child Health 2022;
58:600-603. [PMID:
34612571 PMCID:
PMC8661730 DOI:
10.1111/jpc.15775]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Revised: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
AIM
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many changes in the presenting complaints in paediatric emergency departments (EDs). We sought to characterise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on bicycle-related injuries in children presenting to a tertiary care paediatric ED.
METHODS
We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional study of ED visits to a large urban tertiary children's hospital, comparing March to October 2020 (the study period) to the same date range 2 years prior (i.e. March to October 2018-2019). We included children 0-17.99 years presenting for a bicycle-related injury. We compared absolute visit counts of bike injuries per month, demographics, triage acuity, injury type and disposition.
RESULTS
A total of 1215 bike-related visits were analysed. There were 234 presentations in 2018 (March to October), 305 in 2019, and 676 in 2020. Overall, the mean age was 9.5 years (standard deviation 5.5-13.5), there were 67% males, median Canadian Emergency Department Triage and Acuity Scale score was 3 (interquartile range 3-4) and the most common injuries were fractures (n = 471, 38.8%). There were significantly more bike injuries presenting to the ED per month in the COVID group, 33.7(17.9) versus 84.5(61.4) (two-tailed P value = 0.041). There was no statistical difference in 'severe injuries' pre- versus post-COVID (odds ratio 0.815 (95% confidence interval 0.611-1.088), P = 0.165).
CONCLUSION
There was a significant increase in bicycle-related injuries presenting to our ED during the pandemic, compared to previous years. Evaluating these trends will allow for the exploration of harm reduction strategies for preventing future bicycle-related injuries.
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