The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients presenting with concussion at a specialty clinic. This study used a retrospective cohort design to compare participants (n = 3021) with a suspected concussion, including a Pandemic cohort (n = 1139; March 2020-February 2021) and a Pre-Pandemic cohort (n = 1882; March 2019-February 2020). Concussions and patient characteristics including age, sex, days since injury, and injury mechanism were extracted from an electronic health record. There were 39.5% (n = 743) fewer concussions in Pandemic. Pandemic presented to the clinic 25.8 days later (p < 0.001) and were 1.9 years older (p < 0.001) than Pre-Pandemic. Sport-related concussions decreased 59.6% overall for Pandemic. Pandemic was associated with proportional increases of concussions involving recreational activities (odds ratio [OR] = 6.11; p < 0.001), motor vehicle collisions (OR = 1.39; p < 0.001), and falls/assaults (OR = 1.33; p < 0.001). A total of 9.4% (107/1139) of all Pandemic concussion initial clinical visits were performed using telehealth (0% in Pre-Pandemic). Concussion visit volume to a sub-specialty clinic decreased by approximately 40% during the COVID-19 pandemic and patients presented to the clinic nearly 1 month later. The increase in telehealth highlights the potential to expand clinical care outreach during the current and future pandemics or similar restrictive time periods.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行对就诊于专科诊所的脑震荡患者的影响

本研究的目的是检查 COVID-19 大流行对在专科诊所就诊的脑震荡患者的影响。本研究使用回顾性队列设计来比较参与者 ( n  = 3021) 与疑似脑震荡的患者，包括大流行队列 ( n  = 1139；2020 年 3 月至 2021 年 2 月) 和大流行前队列 ( n  = 1882；2019 年 3 月至 2 月) 2020）。从电子健康记录中提取脑震荡和患者特征，包括年龄、性别、受伤天数和受伤机制。 大流行中的脑震荡减少了39.5% ( n = 743)。大流行病在 25.8 天后（p  < 0.001）出现在诊所，并且年龄大了 1.9 岁（p < 0.001) 比大流行前。与运动相关的脑震荡在大流行期间总体下降了 59.6%。大流行与涉及娱乐活动的脑震荡的比例增加有关（比值比 [OR] = 6.11；p  < 0.001）、机动车碰撞（OR = 1.39；p  < 0.001）和跌倒/袭击（OR = 1.33；p < 0.001)。共有 9.4% (107/1139) 的大流行性脑震荡初始临床就诊是使用远程医疗进行的（大流行前为 0%）。在 COVID-19 大流行期间，亚专科诊所的脑震荡就诊量减少了约 40%，近 1 个月后患者就诊到诊所。远程医疗的增加凸显了在当前和未来的大流行或类似的限制性时间段内扩大临床护理外展的潜力。