Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway.
Scand J Public Health. 2021 Nov;49(7):689-696. doi: 10.1177/1403494821993725. Epub 2021 Feb 24.
In order to prevent a major outbreak of COVID-19 disease in Norway, a series of lockdown measures was announced on 12 March 2020. The aim of the present paper was to describe the impact of this lockdown on the treatment of injuries.
We collected hospital data on injury diagnoses from a national emergency preparedness register established during the pandemic. We identified the number of injured patients per day in the period 1 January-30 June 2020, and analysed the change in patient volumes over two three-week periods before and during the lockdown by sex, age, level of care, level of urgency, type of contact and type of injury.
Compared to pre-lockdown levels, there was an overall reduction of 43% in injured patients during the first three weeks of lockdown. The decrease in patient contacts did not differ by sex, but was most pronounced among young people. Substantial reductions were observed for both acute and elective treatment and across all levels of care and types of contact, with the exception of indirect patient contacts. The change in patient contacts varied considerably by injury type, with the largest reduction observed for dislocations/sprains/strains. The decrease was much lower for burns/corrosions and poisoning.
A substantial reduction in the treatment of injuries was observed during lockdown in Norway. Possible explanations for this finding include an overall decrease in injury risk, a redistribution of hospital resources and a higher threshold for seeking medical attention as a result of the pandemic.
为了防止 COVID-19 疾病在挪威大规模爆发，挪威于 2020 年 3 月 12 日宣布了一系列封锁措施。本文旨在描述这一封锁措施对创伤治疗的影响。
我们从大流行期间建立的国家应急准备登记处收集了关于损伤诊断的医院数据。我们确定了 2020 年 1 月 1 日至 6 月 30 日期间每天受伤的患者人数，并通过性别、年龄、护理水平、紧急程度、接触类型和损伤类型分析了封锁前和封锁期间两个三周期间患者数量的变化。
与封锁前的水平相比，封锁的头三周受伤患者总体减少了 43%。患者接触量的减少与性别无关，但在年轻人中最为明显。急性和择期治疗以及所有护理水平和接触类型的减少都很显著，间接患者接触除外。患者接触量的变化因损伤类型而异，脱位/扭伤/拉伤的减少最为明显。烧伤/腐蚀和中毒的减少幅度要低得多。
在挪威的封锁期间，创伤治疗的数量大幅减少。这一发现的可能解释包括受伤风险的总体降低、医院资源的重新分配以及大流行导致寻求医疗关注的门槛提高。
