• Giovanni Trisolino, Renato Maria Toniolo, Lorenza Marengo, Daniela Dibello, Pasquale Guida, Elena Panuccio, Andrea Evangelista, Stefano Stallone, Maria Lucia Sansò, Carlo Amati, Pier Francesco Costici, Silvio Boero, Pasquale Farsetti, Nando De Sanctis, Fabio Verdoni, Antonio Memeo, and Cosimo Gigante.
• Unit of Pediatric Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, IRCCS, 40136 Bologna, Italy.
• Children (Basel). 2021 Jun 22; 8 (7).

BackgroundWe aimed to investigate the variation of medical and surgical activities in pediatric orthopedics in Italy, during the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, in comparison with data from the previous two years. The differences among the first wave, phase 2 and second wave were also analyzed.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective multicenter study regarding the clinical and surgical activities in pediatric orthopedics during the pandemic and pre-pandemic period. The hospital databases of seven tertiary referral centers for pediatric orthopedics and traumatology were queried for events regarding pediatric orthopedic patients from 1 March 2018 to 28 February 2021. Surgical procedures were classified according to the "SITOP Priority Panel". An additional classification in "high-priority" and "low-priority" surgery was also applied.ResultsOverall, in 2020, we observed a significant drop in surgical volumes compared to the previous two years. The decrease was different across the different classes of priority, with "high-priority" surgery being less influenced. The decrease in emergency department visits was almost three-fold greater than the decrease in trauma surgery. During the second wave, a lower decline in surgical interventions and a noticeable resumption of "low-priority" surgery and outpatient visits were observed.ConclusionOur study represents the first nationwide survey quantifying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric orthopedics and traumatology during the first and second wave.

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