Did the COVID-19 pandemic lead to increased pediatric musculoskeletal nonaccidental trauma? A cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Lockdowns due to COVID-19 increased known risk factors for nonaccidental trauma (NAT), including economic instability and parental stress. We sought to evaluate potential changes in the frequency and types of fractures associated with NAT during the COVID-19 pandemic. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using de-identified data obtained from the IBM Watson Health Explorys Cohort Discovery database. Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms were used to query the database for victims of NAT in 2019 and 2020. Within this cohort of patients, we then identified those who were also diagnosed with a fracture within 21 days of the NAT event. Demographic data were compared between 2019 and 2020 where possible using chi-squared testing, and relative risks for various fracture diagnoses were calculated with 95% confidence intervals. There were 9500 records overall of pediatric NAT in 2019 compared to 9350 in 2020. Of those, in 2019 550 were associated with a diagnosis of fracture versus 570 in 2020. The relative risk of fracture due to NAT in 2020 when compared to 2019 was not significantly higher [relative risk, 1.05 (95% confidence interval, 0.94-1.17)]. The relative risk for each category of fracture diagnosis in 2020 was slightly higher, but not to a statistically significant degree. Despite increasing known risk factors, the frequency of NAT remained unchanged as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also did not identify significant changes in the risk of fracture due to NAT, nor any changes in the associated types of fractures.