Changing of nasal fracture patterns in maxillofacial trauma consultation-impact of the covid-19 pandemic

BackgroundIn 2020, the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 led to a pandemic that had a major impact on the global health care systems. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on nasal bone (NB) fracture patterns/distributions and circumstances in a German cranio-maxillofacial trauma center.Materials and methodsThis retrospective study compared the nasal fracture patterns of patients in the PreCovid (PC) era (February 2019 - January 2020) with patients in the IntraCovid (IC) era (February 2020 - January 2021). In addition to baseline characteristics, the type of NB fractures, the circumstances leading to NB fracture and hospital admissions/treatments were analyzed.ResultsThe present study showed a significant decrease in the total number of NB fractures during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the IC period, a significant increase in falls and virus-/flu associated syncopes leading to NB fractures was detected. At the same time, a significant decrease in sports accidents, road traffic accidents and interpersonal violence leading to NB fractures was observed in the IC period. Under the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic, a significant increase in accidents at home, accidents during the weekdays and closed reductions under local anesthesia was detected when being compared to the PC period. The daytime of trauma leading to NB fractures also changed significantly from night-time (PC) to morning-time (IC).ConclusionThe Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the NB fracture circumstances and treatment modalities. Therefore, the results of this study can serve as a baseline for further studies of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on NB fracture patterns among different countries.