Pu Jingya Jane, McGrath Colman Patrick, Leung Yiu Yan, Choi Wing Shan, Yang Wei-Fa, Li Kar Yan, Su Yu-Xiong
Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
Division of Applied Oral Sciences and Community Dental Care, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Apr 29;8:613663. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.613663. eCollection 2021.
Oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) is a high-risk specialty involving airway and aerosol-generating procedures, which is potentially of more risk in the era of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aimed to identify the impact of COVID-19 on the disease pattern of OMFS inpatients and surgeries under general anesthesia in a comparative study. We reviewed the admission and operating theater records of OMFS patients from Jan 1 to Aug 31 in 2020 and 2019. The total number of cases, presenting disease patterns, and proportion of essential and non-essential medical services were compared between 2020 and 2019. There were 664 admissions and 356 general anesthesia surgical procedures included in this study. Both admission and surgery numbers were significantly reduced in 2020, compared with 2019 ( = 0.012 and 0.007, respectively). The proportion of malignancy cases increased significantly, whereas that of cleft lip and palate and temporomandibular disorder (TMD) decreased. There was a significant increase in the proportion of essential services compared with non-essential services in 2020 compared with 2019. Our results first reported the epidemiological data of the impact of COVID-19 on OMFS disease pattern in a comparative study. The change of disease pattern and caseload will have a long-term impact on OMFS patient care, education, and training during the pandemic. Our paper provides evidence for health policy makers to consider the relocation of medical resources and optimization of medical education and services.
口腔颌面外科（OMFS）是一个涉及气道和产生气溶胶操作的高风险专业领域，在2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）流行时代可能面临更大风险。我们旨在通过一项对比研究，确定COVID-19对口腔颌面外科住院患者疾病模式以及全身麻醉下手术的影响。我们回顾了2020年和2019年1月1日至8月31日期间口腔颌面外科患者的入院记录和手术室记录。比较了2020年和2019年的病例总数、呈现的疾病模式以及必要和非必要医疗服务的比例。本研究纳入了664例入院病例和356例全身麻醉手术。与2019年相比，2020年的入院和手术数量均显著减少（分别为P = 0.012和0.007）。恶性肿瘤病例的比例显著增加，而唇腭裂和颞下颌关节紊乱（TMD）病例的比例下降。与2019年相比，2020年必要服务的比例相对于非必要服务显著增加。我们的研究结果首次在一项对比研究中报告了COVID-19对口腔颌面外科疾病模式影响的流行病学数据。疾病模式和病例数量的变化将对疫情期间口腔颌面外科患者的护理、教育和培训产生长期影响。我们的论文为卫生政策制定者考虑医疗资源的重新分配以及优化医学教育和服务提供了证据。
