Trend differences in cervical spinal cord injuries before and after the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic

Study design

Cross-Sectional Study.

Objectives

To investigate the changes in the characteristics of cervical spinal cord injuries (CSCI) before and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic among patients transported to our hospital in Japan.

Setting

Hospital with an emergency center in Chiba, Japan.

Methods

Patients eligible for the study were those transported within 24 h of injury and diagnosed with cervical spinal cord injury between January 2018 and December 2021 at our hospital. Medical records were retrospectively examined to investigate the number and characteristics of patients with CSCI. The clinical variables of patients with CSCI were compared according to the time of admission as related to the COVID-19 pandemic: 2018-19 (before) or 2020-21 (after).

Results

The total number of patients with CSCI from 2018 to 2021 was 108, with 57 before the COVID-19 pandemic and 51 after the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of severe cases with an injury severity score (ISS) of >16 decreased after COVID-19 (p < 0.05). Falls on level surfaces were the most common cause of injury both before and after COVID-19. Although the ranking of traffic accidents decreased after COVID-19, among those, the number of bicycle injuries tended to increase.

Conclusions

The number of serious cases with an ISS > 16 decreased, presumably because of the decline in high-energy trauma due to the background decrease in the number of traffic accidents.