Pediatric Emergency Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Postgraduate Medical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
J Paediatr Child Health. 2022 Apr;58(4):600-603. doi: 10.1111/jpc.15775. Epub 2021 Oct 6.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many changes in the presenting complaints in paediatric emergency departments (EDs). We sought to characterise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on bicycle-related injuries in children presenting to a tertiary care paediatric ED.
We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional study of ED visits to a large urban tertiary children's hospital, comparing March to October 2020 (the study period) to the same date range 2 years prior (i.e. March to October 2018-2019). We included children 0-17.99 years presenting for a bicycle-related injury. We compared absolute visit counts of bike injuries per month, demographics, triage acuity, injury type and disposition.
A total of 1215 bike-related visits were analysed. There were 234 presentations in 2018 (March to October), 305 in 2019, and 676 in 2020. Overall, the mean age was 9.5 years (standard deviation 5.5-13.5), there were 67% males, median Canadian Emergency Department Triage and Acuity Scale score was 3 (interquartile range 3-4) and the most common injuries were fractures (n = 471, 38.8%). There were significantly more bike injuries presenting to the ED per month in the COVID group, 33.7(17.9) versus 84.5(61.4) (two-tailed P value = 0.041). There was no statistical difference in 'severe injuries' pre- versus post-COVID (odds ratio 0.815 (95% confidence interval 0.611-1.088), P = 0.165).
There was a significant increase in bicycle-related injuries presenting to our ED during the pandemic, compared to previous years. Evaluating these trends will allow for the exploration of harm reduction strategies for preventing future bicycle-related injuries.
自 COVID-19 大流行开始以来，儿科急诊部（ED）的就诊主诉发生了许多变化。我们旨在描述 COVID-19 大流行对儿童自行车相关伤害在三级儿童 ED 就诊的影响。
我们对一家大型城市三级儿童医院的 ED 就诊进行了描述性、横断面研究，比较了 2020 年 3 月至 10 月（研究期间）与前两年同期（即 2018-2019 年 3 月至 10 月）。我们纳入了因自行车相关伤害就诊的 0-17.99 岁儿童。我们比较了每月自行车伤害就诊的绝对就诊次数、人口统计学、分诊 acuity、损伤类型和处置。
共分析了 1215 例自行车相关就诊。2018 年有 234 例就诊（3 月至 10 月），2019 年有 305 例就诊，2020 年有 676 例就诊。总体而言，平均年龄为 9.5 岁（标准差 5.5-13.5），男性占 67%，加拿大急诊分诊和 acuity 量表中位数为 3（四分位距 3-4），最常见的损伤是骨折（n=471，38.8%）。COVID 组中，ED 每月自行车损伤就诊次数明显更多，分别为 33.7（17.9）例和 84.5（61.4）例（双侧 P 值=0.041）。COVID 前后“严重损伤”无统计学差异（优势比 0.815（95%置信区间 0.611-1.088），P=0.165）。
与前几年相比，大流行期间我们 ED 自行车相关伤害就诊明显增加。评估这些趋势将有助于探索减少伤害策略，以预防未来的自行车相关伤害。
