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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian Journal of Neurotrauma 2022; 19(01): 007-011
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1725569
Original Article

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic during the Lockdown on the Traumatic Brain Injury—An Institutional Experience

Nitish Nayak
1   Department of Neurosurgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences - Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India
,
Prashant Raj Singh
1   Department of Neurosurgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences - Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India
,
Raghvendra Kumar Sharma
1   Department of Neurosurgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences - Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India
,
Surendra Kumar Gupta
1   Department of Neurosurgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences - Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India
,
Charandeep Singh Gandhoke
1   Department of Neurosurgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences - Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India
,
Anil Kumar Sharma 
1   Department of Neurosurgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences - Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India
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Abstract

Background Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) contribute to a significant socioeconomic impact, primarily affecting the lower-income sections of the society. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a marked reduction in in-patient attendance. We are highlighting the impact of lockdown in neurotrauma cases in our institution compared to the prelockdown period.

Methods We have done the retrospective review of the patients admitted due to TBI in prelockdown (January 14–March 21, 2020) and lockdown period (March 25–May 31, 2020) for the same duration of the 68 days at our tertiary institution. We have included demographic characteristics (age, sex), mode of injury, the severity of TBI, radiological diagnosis (computed tomography scan), and treatment obtained in our study. We compared the data for percentage (%) reduction of TBI cases and factors responsible for it during the lockdown period.

Result A total of 166 patients were included in both groups. TBI’s most common mechanism was road traffic accident, but we observed an increase in self-fall (16.9% vs. 38.1%) and assault (11.2% vs. 19%) during the lockdown period. We have noted that moderate TBI increased during the lockdown period by 17%. Overall, there is a reduction of 67% in TBI cases during the lockdown period.

Conclusion The COVID pandemic has limited road traffic activity, and strict implementation of lockdown has restricted the infection and has reduced the neurotrauma emergencies. Simultaneously, moderate TBI cases have increased because of the lack of transportation facility and delay in the management of mild TBI cases.

Keywords

traumatic brain injury - COVID - pandemic - lockdown - road traffic accident


Publication History

Article published online:
15 April 2021

© 2021. Neurotrauma Society of India. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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