Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trauma and Orthopaedic Care
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated sweeping changes in the delivery of trauma and orthopaedic services worldwide. Widespread lockdown measures and reallocation of hospital resources to manage surges in viral cases led to a marked decline in overall trauma presentations, particularly those related to road traffic collisions. At the same time, the proportion of injuries in older adults—most notably hip fractures sustained in the home environment—remained stable or rose, placing sustained demand on fracture services. Constraints on intensive care capacity and operating theatre availability altered care pathways, giving rise to shorter hospital stays, prioritisation of urgent cases, and innovations such as virtual fracture clinics. Early evidence also indicates a shift in mental health–related admissions, with an increase in self-harm injuries requiring critical care. Across regions, variations in lockdown intensity and health-system resilience shaped both patient outcomes and the speed of recovery in trauma care metrics. These patterns underscore the importance of adaptable trauma networks, robust perioperative planning and safeguarding of essential orthopaedic capacity during public-health emergencies.
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Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trauma and Orthopaedic Care publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in impact of the covid-19 pandemic on trauma and orthopaedic care across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Major trauma: Severe injury or combination of injuries that is life-threatening or has the potential to cause long-term disability, often quantified by an Injury Severity Score above a defined threshold.
Hip fracture: A break in the proximal femur, most frequently occurring in older adults following low-energy falls and typically requiring surgical fixation or replacement.
Lockdown measures: Government-mandated restrictions on movement and social interaction aimed at reducing viral transmission, often including stay-at-home orders and suspension of elective medical services.
Operative casemix: The spectrum and relative proportions of surgical procedures performed within a service, categorised by urgency, complexity and patient risk profile.
References
- The mental health toll of COVID-19: significant increase in admissions to ICU for voluntary self-inflicted injuries after the beginning of the pandemic. International Journal of Mental Health Systems (2023).
- Major trauma presentations and patient outcomes in English hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic: An observational cohort study. PLOS Medicine (2023).
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on orthopedic trauma workload in a London level 1 trauma center: the “golden month”. Acta Orthopaedica (2020).
- The process of hip fracture management before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran. BMC Geriatrics (2024).
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