Is the Increase in Record of Skin Wounds in Hospitalized Patients in Internal Medicine Units a Side Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Overview

Journal Int J Environ Res Public Health

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Environmental Health
Public Health

Date 2023 Feb 11

PMID 36767595

Authors

Leticia Nieto-Garcia

Adela Carpio-Perez

Maria Teresa Moreiro-Barroso

Francisco Javier Rubio-Gil

Emilia Ruiz-Antunez

Ainhoa Nieto-Garcia

Montserrat Alonso-Sardon

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Wound care is an important public health challenge that is present in all areas of the healthcare system, whether in hospitals, long term care institutions or in the community. We aimed to quantify the number of skin wounds reported after and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This descriptive longitudinal retrospective study compared of wound records in patients hospitalized in the internal medicine service during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (from 1 March 2020, to 28 February 2021) and previous-year to the outbreak (from 1 January 2019, to 31 December 2019). A sample of 1979 episodes was collected corresponding to 932 inpatients, 434 from the pre-pandemic year and 498 from the first year of COVID-19 pandemic; 147 inpatients were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection (3.2%). The percentage of wound episodes in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic was higher than the pre-pandemic year, 17.9% (1092/6090) versus 15% (887/5906), with a significant increase in the months with the highest incidence of COVID cases. This study shows an increase in the burden of wound care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it could be attributable to the increase in the number of patients hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 infection in internal medicine units.

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