The Global Impact of COVID-19 on Craniomaxillofacial Surgeons

The COrona VIrus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted craniomaxillofacial (CMF) surgeons practice worldwide. We implemented a cross-sectional study and enrolled a sample of CMF surgeons who completed a survey.

To measure the impact that COVID-19 has had on CMF surgeons by (1) identifying variations that may exist by geographic region and specialty and (2) measuring access to adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and identify factors associated with limited access to adequate PPE.

Primary outcome variable was availability of adequate PPE for health-care workers (HCWs) in the front line and surgeons. Descriptive and analytic statistics were computed. Level of statistical significance was set at P < .05. Binary logistic regression models were created to identify variables associated with PPE status (adequate or inadequate).

Most of the respondents felt that hospitals did not provide adequate PPE to the HCWs (57.3%) with significant regional differences (P = .04). Most adequate PPE was available to surgeons in North America with the least offered in Africa. Differences in PPE adequacy per region (P < .001) and per country (P < .001) were significant. In Africa and South America, regions reporting previous virus outbreaks, the differences in access to adequate PPE evaporated compared to Europe (P = .18 and P = .15, respectively).

The impact of COVID-19 among CMF surgeons is global and adversely affects both clinical practice and personal lives of CMF surgeons. Future surveys should capture what the mid- and long-term impact of the COVID-19 crisis will look like.