Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis
-
The COVID-19 outbreak heavily attacked Italy, putting a strain for an extended time on the National healthcare system. Hospitals fastly rearranged the activity to cope with the crisis. This retrospective comparative study intended to investigate the impact of the lockdown imposed in Italy, in two different periods, during the COVID-19 outbreak on acute orthopedic trauma, in order to identify significant issues for improvement and future preparation. ⋯ Despite the decrease of overall acute trauma referral rates during the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, the incidence of fractures in elderly people remained constant, indicating that not all trauma presentations would inevitably decrease during such circumstances.