Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on orthopedic fracture characteristics in three hospitals in Turkey: A multi-center epidemiological study

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of novel coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) on the epidemiological characteristics of orthopedic fractures. Patients and methods: A total of 2,960 patients (1,755 males, 1,205 females; mean age: 39.6 years; range, 1 to 98 years) with orthopedic fractures were included in the study: 552 patients during the pandemic period (March 10th and July 1st, 2020) and 1,158 control patients in the same period 2019 and 1,250 control patients in 2018. Epidemiological characteristics, injury mechanisms, fracture locations and treatment details of the patients were analyzed and compared between 2018, 2019 and 2020 for adult and pediatric populations. Results: Of a total of 552 patients, 485 were adults and 67 were pediatric patients. In the control groups, of 1,158 patients (2019), 770 were adults and 378 were pediatric patients and, of 1,250 patients (2018), 857 were adults and 393 were pediatric patients. The proportion of proximal femur and hand fractures significantly increased during the pandemic period (p=0.025 and p=0.038, respectively). The most frequent surgical indication in the pandemic period was proximal femoral fracture. The proportion of home accidents as an injury mechanism significantly increased in the pandemic period compared to 2018 and 2019 (48.5% vs. 18.6% and 20.6%, respectively; p=0.000). The proportion of female pediatric patients significantly increased during the pandemic period compared to 2018 and 2019 (44.8% vs. 25.4% and 27.2%, respectively, p=0.004). The proportion of forearm fractures (p=0.001) also increased, and the proportion of tibia-fibula fractures (p=0.03) decreased. The most frequent surgical indication in pediatric patients was distal humeral fracture in both groups. Conclusion: During the pandemic period, proximal femoral fractures in the elderly remained a concern. In-home preventative strategies may be beneficial to reduce the incidence of hip fractures in the elderly.

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Short Note: Rape A Consequence of Covid-19 Quarantine on Children and The Elderly: A Call for Action

Jurnal Undang-Undang dan Masyarakat ◽

10.17576/juum-2021-si-08 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol SI ◽

pp. 85-95

Author(s):

Grace Emmanuel Kaka ◽

Muhamad Helmi Md Said ◽

Shahrul Mizan Ismail

Keyword(s):

Domestic Violence ◽

Short Note ◽

The Elderly ◽

Online News ◽

News Reports ◽

High Prevalence ◽

The Government ◽

Good Policy ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

The Impact

The novel coronavirus (Covid-19) led to a shift in the social structure of global cities leading to self-isolation and social/physical distancing to curb the spread of the virus. While these two are stand as good policy, they are greeted by domestic violence and rape as the most prevalent consequences. The researchers examined the impact of lockdown on domestic violence in Nigeria based on frequency of news reports using content analysis of two online news reports and discovered a high prevalence of rape on children (0 - 17 years) and elderly (60 years and above). Hence it is suggested that the government should always be prepared for emergencies. Also, future polices should consider the interest of the most vulnerable in the society by providing safety measures.

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The Mental Capacity Act 2005: review of mental capacity assessment in people with proximal femoral fracture

The Psychiatrist ◽

10.1192/pb.bp.109.026757 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 34 (7) ◽

pp. 284-286 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

P. Guyver ◽

P. Hindle ◽

J. Harrison ◽

N. Jain ◽

M. Brinsden

Keyword(s):

Staff Training ◽

Femoral Fractures ◽

Proximal Femoral Fracture ◽

Mental Capacity ◽

Clinical Implications ◽

Proximal Femoral Fractures ◽

Mental Capacity Act 2005 ◽

Consent To Treatment ◽

Mental Capacity Act ◽

The Impact

Aims and methodTo ascertain whether patients with proximal femoral fractures were being correctly assessed in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Fifty people admitted with proximal femoral fractures were audited to assess whether they had given consent to treatment in accordance with the Act. A Mental Capacity Act 2005 guidance and assessment form was then introduced accompanied by staff training. A re-audit was undertaken to assess the impact.ResultsThe initial audit showed that only one person (2%) had been properly assessed. The re-audit demonstrated that the use of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 assessment form ensured correct assessment.Clinical implicationsOur findings suggest the form is a useful tool in the documentation and assessment of an individual's capacity under the Mental Capacity Act.

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Epidemiological Characteristics of COVID-19 in Mexico and the Potential Impact of Lifting Confinement Across Regions

Frontiers in Physics ◽

10.3389/fphy.2020.573322 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Cristy Leonor Azanza Ricardo ◽

Esteban A. Hernandez-Vargas

Keyword(s):

The Elderly ◽

The Novel ◽

Major Threat ◽

Large Fluctuations ◽

The World ◽

High Death ◽

Mexican Government ◽

Potential Impact ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Epidemiological Characteristics

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has paralyzed our societies, leading to self-isolation and quarantine for several days. As the 10th most populated country in the world, Mexico is on a major threat by COVID-19 due to the limitations of intensive care capacities, about 1.5 hospital beds for every 1,000 citizens. In this paper, we characterize the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico and projected different scenarios to evaluate sharp or gradual quarantine lifting strategies. Mexican government relaxed strict social distancing regulations on June 1, 2020, deriving to pandemic data with large fluctuations and uncertainties of the tendency of the pandemic in Mexico. Our results suggest that lifting social confinement must be gradually sparse while maintaining a decentralized region strategy among the Mexican states. To substantially lower the number of infections, simulations highlight that a fraction of the population that represents the elderly should remain in social confinement (approximately 11.3% of the population); a fraction of the population that represents the confined working class (roughly 27% of the population) must gradually return in at least four parts in consecutive months; and to the last a fraction of the population that assumes the return of students to schools (about 21.7%). As the epidemic progresses, deconfinement strategies need to be continuously re-adjusting with the new pandemic data. All mathematical models, including ours, are only a possibility of many of the future, however, the different scenarios that were developed here highlight that a gradual decentralized region deconfinement with a significant increase in healthcare capacities is paramount to avoid a high death toll in Mexico.

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The Epidemiological and Spatiotemporal Characteristics of 2019 novel coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) in Libya

10.21203/rs.3.rs-67010/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mohamed A Daw ◽

Abdallah H El-Bouzedi ◽

Mohamed O Ahmed

Keyword(s):

Spatial Dynamics ◽

Epidemiological Data ◽

African Countries ◽

Large Country ◽

Effective Prevention ◽

Control Programs ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Epidemiological Characteristics ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background: COVID-19 is a global pandemic that affectedaffects all aspects of life. Studies on understanding the geographical and epidemiological characteristics become particularly important in controlling the spread of the pandemic. Such studies are lacking in Northern African countries, particularly in Libya, which is considered being, the second largest country in Africa, with the longest coast facing Europe. The objectives of this study are to; determine the epidemiological parameters and spatiotemporal patterns of COVID-19 in this large country and outline the needed strategies to contain the spread and the consequences of the pandemic. Methods: This comprehensive study included all the confirmed cases of COVID-19 since its emergence in Libya, from early April 2020 until July 31th31. The epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 were analyzed, and the spatial dynamic trends were explored. A region Region-based counts of weekly reported cases were used to characterize and quantify the spatial dynamics of COVID-19.Results: A total of 3695 of confirmed cases of OVID-19 were collected,; 2515 (68.1%) were males , and 1180 (31.9%) were females with a male-to-female (M:F) ratio of 2.1:1. Aged between 2 -and 78 years old. Older age patients infected with COVID-19 are at higher severity and mortality. A broad geographic variability and spatiotemporal spread variation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Libya was observed. Indicating. This indicates a more significant increase ofin COVID-19 from the middle of July, particularly in the West and Southern regions, although it was consistently observed in the Meddle and Southern regions.Conclusion: Evaluating the epidemiological data and the spatiotemporal dynamic trends of COVID-19 at early stages are particularly important in understanding the pandemic spread. These parameters are essential in designing effective prevention and control programs aimed at reducing the impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic, particularly in countries with limited resources.

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Assessment of Social Distancing for Controlling COVID-19 in Korea: An Age-Structured Modeling Approach

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17207474 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (20) ◽

pp. 7474

Author(s):

Yongin Choi ◽

James Slghee Kim ◽

Heejin Choi ◽

Hyojung Lee ◽

Chang Hyeong Lee

Keyword(s):

Mathematical Model ◽

Age Groups ◽

Epidemiological Data ◽

The Elderly ◽

Model Parameters ◽

Social Distancing ◽

First Case ◽

Age Structured ◽

Epidemiological Characteristics ◽

The Impact

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred all over the world between 2019 and 2020. The first case of COVID-19 was reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Since then, there have been more than 21 million incidences and 761 thousand casualties worldwide as of 16 August 2020. One of the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 is that its symptoms and fatality rates vary with the ages of the infected individuals. This study aims at assessing the impact of social distancing on the reduction of COVID-19 infected cases by constructing a mathematical model and using epidemiological data of incidences in Korea. We developed an age-structured mathematical model for describing the age-dependent dynamics of the spread of COVID-19 in Korea. We estimated the model parameters and computed the reproduction number using the actual epidemiological data reported from 1 February to 15 June 2020. We then divided the data into seven distinct periods depending on the intensity of social distancing implemented by the Korean government. By using a contact matrix to describe the contact patterns between ages, we investigated the potential effect of social distancing under various scenarios. We discovered that when the intensity of social distancing is reduced, the number of COVID-19 cases increases; the number of incidences among the age groups of people 60 and above increases significantly more than that of the age groups below the age of 60. This significant increase among the elderly groups poses a severe threat to public health because the incidence of severe cases and fatality rates of the elderly group are much higher than those of the younger groups. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain strict social distancing rules to reduce infected cases.

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Chronic subdural haematoma during the COVID-19 lockdown period: late presentation with a longer interval from the initial head injury to the final presentation and diagnosis

Chinese Neurosurgical Journal ◽

10.1186/s41016-020-00229-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Author(s):

David Yuen Chung Chan ◽

Wai Sang Poon ◽

Danny Tat Ming Chan ◽

Wai Kit Mak ◽

George Kwok Chu Wong

Keyword(s):

Head Injury ◽

Functional Outcome ◽

Subdural Haematoma ◽

Primary Outcome ◽

The Elderly ◽

Late Presentation ◽

Chronic Subdural Haematoma ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background The COVID-19 novel coronavirus is contagious, and the mortality is higher in the elderly population. Lockdown in different parts of the world has been imposed since January 2020. Chronic subdural haematoma (cSDH) has a unique natural history in which symptoms can be non-specific, and the onset is insidious. This study aims to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the presentation of cSDH. Methods Consecutive adult cSDH patients admitted from 1 March 2020 to 30 April 2020 were reviewed. Exclusion criteria including those who had no definite history of head injury or the diagnosis of cSDH were made from a scheduled follow-up scan. Corresponding data during the same period in 2019 were reviewed for comparison. The primary outcome was the interval between the initial head injury and the final radiological diagnosis of cSDH. Secondary outcomes include Markwalder chronic subdural haematoma grade upon admission, length of stay in the acute hospital, and the modified Rankin scale (mRS) upon discharge. Results For the primary outcome, the average interval between head injury and the diagnosis of cSDH was significantly longer at 56.6 days (49 to 74 days, SD 9.83 days) during the period from March to April 2020, versus 29.4 days (17 to 42 days, SD 8.59 days) in 2019 for the corresponding period (p = 0.00703). There was no significant difference in the functional outcome upon discharge. Conclusions cSDH patients can present late during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The functional outcome was comparable when operations for drainage were timely performed.

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Obstructive Sleep Apnea and COVID-19 Infection Comorbidity: Analysis of the Problem in the Age Aspect

International Journal of Biomedicine ◽

10.21103/article10(4)_ra1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 312-315

Author(s):

Olga Berdina ◽

Irina Madaeva ◽

Liubov Rychkova

Keyword(s):

Obstructive Sleep Apnea ◽

Sleep Apnea ◽

Mutual Influence ◽

The Elderly ◽

Adverse Outcomes ◽

The Novel ◽

Obstructive Sleep ◽

The Common ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

The Impact

In the literature, there are suggestions of a possible mutual influence between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The aim of this review is to analyze data found in the literature related to pathogenetic aspects of the impact of OSA on COVID-19, and vice versa, and features of the course of this comorbidity in both adulthood and childhood. Information was searched in MEDLINE, PubMed, EBSCO, and RSCI databases, which presented some data for the connection between COVID-19 and OSA, as well as aspects of OSA and COVID-19 comorbidity for adults and the elderly. The common pathophysiological pathways leading to increased systemic inflammation and adverse consequences of OSA and COVID-19 infection do coexist and were revealed in detail. We paid special attention to aspects of this comorbidity in children and found that research in this area was lacking. Based on this information, it should be concluded that: 1) more pediatric studies of links between OSA and COVID-19 are urgently needed; 2) screening hospitalized COVID-19 patients with tools to detect OSA could identify those at risk for a severe course of these diseases and adverse outcomes; 3) treating OSA will allow increasing the likelihood of developing a robust and long-lasting post-COVID-19 adaptive immunity in these patients.

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COVID-19 in Egyptian Children: A Multicenter Study

Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1055/s-0040-1722284 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (02) ◽

pp. 057-061

Author(s):

Amin Abdel Baki ◽

Samy Zaky ◽

Hossam Hosny ◽

Gehan Elassal ◽

Akram Abdelbary ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Retrospective Cohort ◽

Clinical Characteristics ◽

Pediatric Patients ◽

The Novel ◽

Limited Information ◽

Significant Morbidity ◽

Egyptian Children ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Epidemiological Characteristics ◽

Benign Course

Abstract Objective The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has made its worldwide spread since its outbreak in December 2019. Limited information is available about the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of COVID-19, especially in Africa and Egypt. Methods We aimed to study the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in Egyptian children. This is an observational retrospective cohort study performed at two specialized COVID-19 isolation hospitals in Egypt. All admitted COVID-19 pediatric patients between March 20, 2020, and May 1, 2020, were included in the study. Discussion This study included 40 COVID-19 confirmed cases (mean age, 9.4 years), 67.5% were male, 85% were asymptomatic, and 15% had mild symptoms. There were no confirmed severe or critically ill cases among the patients. Conclusion COVID-19 runs in a benign course in Egyptian children with no mortality and no significant morbidity.

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Uncommon Presentation of COVID-19 in Pediatric Patients: Anosmia

Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1055/s-0041-1723974 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (02) ◽

pp. 080-084

Author(s):

Hatice Y. Dağlı ◽

Özge M. Akcan ◽

Sevgi Pekcan ◽

Mustafa Gençeli ◽

Hüseyin S. Özdemir ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pediatric Patients ◽

Early Stage ◽

Clinical Findings ◽

World Health ◽

The Novel ◽

Uncommon Presentation ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Health Organization ◽

Epidemiological Characteristics

Abstract Objective The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Although the complaint of anosmia is well described in adult patients, there is limited knowledge in pediatric patients. We aim to evaluate the epidemiological characteristics and clinical findings of children with anosmia in COVID-19-positive pediatric patients. Methods Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection at 1 month to 18 years of age, who admitted to Meram Faculty of Medicine of Necmettin Erbakan University between March and June 2020, were retrospectively reviewed, and the patients who had anosmia or developed anosmia during follow-up were then included in the study. The diagnosis was established by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results A total of 71 patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 and 14 (19.7%) of them had anosmia. Mean patient age was 14.07 (range: 10–16) years. Six of our 14 (42.8%) patients had anosmia at the time of diagnosis and anosmia developed in the follow-up among eight patients. The mean duration of anosmia in our patients was 6.9 ± 3.8 days. Recovery time was 1 to 4 days in four patients (28.5%), 5 to 8 days in four patients (28.5%), and 9 to 14 days in six patients (42.8%). Conclusion In this article, it was emphasized that anosmia can be the sole manifestation or concomitant with other symptoms in children with COVID-19 disease. Care and attention is important to identify COVID-19 patients at an early stage of the disease and limit the spread of the virus.

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Analysis of Epidemiological Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients in Rudan county, Iran

Disease and Diagnosis ◽

10.34172/ddj.2021.10 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 51-55

Author(s):

Mirza Ali Nazarnezhad ◽

Shokrollah Mohseni ◽

Mohammad Shamsadiny ◽

Pirdad Najafi ◽

Morteza Salemi

Keyword(s):

Patient Information ◽

The Elderly ◽

Underlying Disease ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

World Health ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Registration System ◽

The Mean ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Epidemiological Characteristics

Background: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a global pandemic. The aim of the present study was to analyze the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 patients in Rudan county so that regional managers can make timely and effective decisions. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study performed on all registered patients with confirmed COVID-19 in Rudan county by July 10, 2020. Patient information was extracted from COVID-19 patient information registration system. The collected data included gender, age, mortality, underlying disease, time of infection, occupation, contact history, and hospitalizations. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22.0. Results: In this study, 614 (56%) of the patients were male and 477 (43%) were female. The mean age of patients was 43 ± 17 years. A total of 136 patients (12.5%) had at least one underlying disease. The majority of patients with underlying diseases (75%) had a history of contact with a patient with confirmed COVID-19. There was no statistically significant relationship between mortality and gender. The mean age of inpatients and outpatients was 56 ± 19 and 40 ± 15 years, respectively. Most deaths occurred among the elderly and housewives, and the highest infection rate also occurred among the latter group. Conclusion: In a situation where the COVID-19 pandemic is a global threat, health systems must demonstrate appropriate and timely responses based on the development and implementation of preventive policies and the care of vulnerable and high-risk patients.

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