Different Crises, Different Patterns of Trauma. The Impact of a Social Crisis and the COVID-19 Health Pandemic on a High Violence Area.

Abstract

BackgoundSantiago, Chile underwent two separate periods of crisis over the past year. The first period, the ‘social crisis,’ extended over thirteen weeks in late 2019 into early 2020 due to protests over income inequality and the government response to social unrest. The second period, the ‘health crisis,’ began in March 2020 with Chile’s first case of COVID-19 and escalated rapidly to include ‘stay at home orders,’ traffic restrictions, and the shuttering of most businesses. We wished to evaluate the impact of these crisis periods on trauma epidemiology.MethodsWe performed a retrospective review of the South-East Metropolitan Health Service Trauma Registry. Trauma admissions, operative volume, and in-hospital mortality were evaluated during the crisis period and the year prior.ResultsThe social crisis saw increased levels of trauma, both blunt and penetrating, relative to the time period immediately preceding. The health crisis saw an increase in penetrating trauma with a concomitant decline in blunt trauma. Both crisis periods had decreased levels of trauma, overall, compared to the year prior. There were no statistically significant differences in in-hospital trauma mortality.ConclusionDifferent crises may have different patterns of trauma. Crisis periods that include extended periods of lockdown and curfew may lead to increasing penetrating trauma volume. Governments and health officials should anticipate the aggregate impact of these measures on public health and develop strategies to actively mitigate them.Level of evidenceIII