Decrease in incidence of proximal femur fractures in the elderly population during the Covid-19 pandemic: a...

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic surgery
• Epidemiology
• Public health

Background:

• COVID-19 pandemic declared in early 2020 led to global lockdowns.
• Lockdowns aimed to mitigate COVID-19 morbidity and mortality.
• Proximal femur fractures are a significant public health concern.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of national lockdown measures on proximal femur fracture epidemiology.
• To test the hypothesis that lockdowns would decrease fracture incidence.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective case-control study of 2784 hip fractures (2010-2021).
• Fracture cases stratified weekly.
• Comparison of lockdown periods (2020-21) with pre-pandemic periods (2010-2019).

Main Results:

• A 21.64% weekly decrease in proximal femur fractures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Significant weekly decrease during all three lockdown periods (P=0.04).
• Most pronounced decrease observed during the third lockdown period (P=0.01).

Conclusions:

• A notable decrease in proximal femur fractures occurred during the COVID-19 era.
• Government-imposed lockdowns significantly reduced fracture cases.
• The reduction in fractures was more pronounced during later lockdown periods.