Characteristics and clinical outcomes of older patients with trauma visiting the emergency department before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A level 1 trauma center cohort study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand the characteristics and clinical outcomes of older patients with trauma before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: General characteristics, trauma-related characteristics, and clinical outcomes of older patients who visited the emergency department with trauma before the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2018 to February 2020) and during the pandemic (March 2020 to February 2022) were compared and analyzed. Results: A total of 2,270 older patients visited the emergency department due to trauma during the study periods. The proportion of ‘hypertension (yes)’ and ‘diabetes (yes)’ was higher in patients who visited the hospital during the pandemic than before the COVID-19 pandemic. 'Falls and contact injuries.' 'injury-door time (after 24 hours).' 'Injury Severity Score (very severe injury).' and the proportion of 'injury site (external).' were high. The ratio of ‘emergency department results (admission to the ward, intensive care unit)’ and ‘admission result (discharge)’ during the pandemic period was higher than before the pandemic. The survival time of subjects before the pandemic was longer than that of the pandemic period, but there was no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion: Through this result, it was found that there were differences in the trauma-related characteristics and clinical outcomes of geriatric trauma patients before and during the pandemic. In preparation for infectious diseases that may occur in the future, it is necessary to prepare an effective geriatric trauma management strategy.