Facial Trauma During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Study design: Retrospective cohort study.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on the regional trends in facial trauma at a tertiary care, level 1 trauma center in Central New York.

Methods: The study sample was derived from the population of patients who presented with facial trauma to the emergency department at the Downtown and/or Community Campuses of SUNY Upstate University Hospital between March 1, 2020, and May 15, 2020, and compared to two historical controls in 2018 and 2019. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were calculated for study variables in each cohort. Poisson regression was used to compare incident rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals with significance set at P < .05.

Results: Sixty five patients presented during the COVID-19 pandemic, while 83 presented in 2019 and 95 in 2018. For the study period, the most common mechanism was assault in 47.7%. IRR was significantly lower than in 2018 (IRR = 1.46, P = .018), but not significantly different from 2019 (IRR = 1.28, P = .14). During lockdown, IRR was significantly decreased compared to 2019 (IRR = 1.84, P = .0029) and 2018 (IRR = 2.16, P < .001).

Conclusions: The volume of facial trauma seen in Central New York appears undeterred in the absence of "shelter in place" orders. Analysis of pandemic and regional trauma variations can offer valuable insight for improved resource allocation to better prepare for potentially high-risk procedures.