The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on traumatic brain injuries in Tyrol: experiences from a state under lockdown

• Published in: European journal of trauma and emergency surgery (Munich : 2007) Vol. 47; no. 3; pp. 653 - 658
• Main Authors: Pinggera, Daniel, Klein, Barbara, Thomé, Claudius, Grassner, Lukas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-06-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Critical Care Medicine; Disease transmission; Emergency medical care; Emergency Medicine; Intensive; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original; Original Article; Pandemics; Quarantine; Sports Medicine; Surgery; Surgical Orthopedics; Traumatic brain injury; Traumatic Surgery; Austria; COVID-19; Quarantine; Traumatic brain injury; Outcome
• ISSN: 1863-9933; 1863-9941
• DOI: 10.1007/s00068-020-01445-7

Purpose
In February 2020, the federal state of Tyrol in Austria has become one of the epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tyrol is known for numerous skiing areas. Thus, winter sport resorts became a starting point for COVID-19 infections spreading towards the rest of the state, Austria and other countries, leading to a mandatory quarantine for almost a million people, who were placed under a curfew and restrictions in daily life. Additionally, all ski resorts and hotels were closed. We aimed to analyze the influence of the COVID-19 quarantine on traumatic brain injury (TBI) cases in Tyrol.
Methods
We retrospectively compared demographical and injury characteristics from all TBI patients within the 2020 strict quarantine period with the respective time periods from 2016 to 2019. As our department is the only neurosurgical unit in Tyrol, all patients with moderate or severe TBI are transferred to our hospital.
Results
During 3 weeks of the full quarantine period, the weekly TBI cases load decreased significantly in comparison to the same time periods in the years 2016–2019. Furthermore, concomitant skull fractures decreased significantly (
p
 < 0.016), probably reflecting different causative mechanisms. The other demographical and injury characteristics and particularly falls at home stayed relatively unchanged.
Conclusion
TBI remained an important contributor to the neurosurgical workflow during the COVID-19 pandemic. Strategies to ensure neurosurgical care also under pandemic-induced lockdown are important.