[Translated article] Effect of the COVID pandemic on paediatric trauma emergencies in three areas of Spain with different incidence

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Although much has been published on the effect of the pandemic on trauma emergencies, it has not been analysed whether the incidence of infection or different organisation of available resources according to the Spanish region were influential factors. We present a multicenter study of three tertiary hospitals in three Spanish cities with different characteristics to study how these factors influenced paediatric trauma emergencies during the first wave of the pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We present a retrospective cohort study that compares and analyzes paediatric trauma emergencies in three different hospitals during the period of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and we compare them with the same period of the previous year, analyzing the number of emergencies, the severity of the pathology, the average age of the patients, the days of admission and the waiting time of the cases that required surgical treatment. RESULTS: A total of 6474 paediatric trauma emergency episodes have been analysed. There was a drastic reduction in activity in the three hospitals, but in different amounts: 83.5% in the hospital located in Madrid, 75% in the hospital located in Valencia and 65.9% in the one located in Palma, Majorca. The emergencies attended were more serious in 2020 compared to 2019. The average age of patients treated during the pandemic was lower compared to the previous year. There were no differences in the days of admission, but there were differences in the delay in surgery for surgical fractures. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the decreed confinement had a different impact on paediatric trauma emergencies in the different hospitals according to the incidence of infection and the measures adopted in the different regions. In all cases there was a significant reduction in activity, a greater proportion of medium and severe pathologies were attended to, the average age of the patients attended was lower and a delay was observed in surgeries performed in the emergency room, probably due to the need to request a PCR test to detect a COVID-19 infection.