The Increased Burden of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Orthopaedic Trauma Patients: Comparison of Demographics of Both the Waves of the Pandemic—An Indian Tertiary Center Experience

BACKGROUND: The second wave of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has posed new challenges in the management of Orthopedic trauma patients due to the overburdened healthcare facilities and we aim to present the differences in demographics between the first wave and the initial part of the second wave. METHODOLOGY: This study was a retrospective cross-sectional study of our trauma registry from June 19, 2020 to October 13, 2020 (1st study period) and from April 1, 2021 to the first week of May 2021 (2nd study period). We looked into differences in the following three parameters: (1) infection rate among Orthopaedic patients in the first and second study period of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, (2) infection rate among the Health Care Workers and (3) hospital-acquired SARS-CoV-2 infections in admitted Orthopaedic trauma patients. RESULTS: 35 out of 852 patients (4.1%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection in 1st study period as compared to 48 out of 262 patients (18.3%) in the 2nd study period (p < 0.001). 23 HCW’s involved in management of Orthopaedic trauma patients tested positive in the second study period compared to none in the first study period. 17 patients had Hospital-acquired SARS-CoV-2 infection in 2nd study period compared to 7 in 1st study period. There were more asymptomatic patients for SARS-CoV-2 infection in the 2nd study period. CONCLUSION: Significant increase in the number of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Orthopaedic trauma patients, and the increased number of HCW’s affected with SARS-CoV-2 infection have been the challenges in 2nd study period.