Evaluation of Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Chest Trauma Patients with COVID-19 Infection Undergoing Emergency Surgeries

Background: This study aims to examine the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with chest trauma who were infected with COVID-19 and underwent emergency surgery. Objective: In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this research investigates the impact of COVID-19 on patients with chest trauma who underwent emergency surgery. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted on 56 patients with chest trauma in two groups with COVID-19, and no covid who underwent surgery in Shahid Madani Hospital. Results: Among the trauma patients, 21 were infected with COVID-19, and 35 were not. The predominant causes of trauma were car and motorcycle accidents. Among COVID-19 patients, 3.3% exhibited symptoms of fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, and gastrointestinal symptoms, while 5.9% had severe lung involvement confirmed by CT scan. Following surgery, 1.57% (12 individuals) of COVID-19 patients were transferred to the ICU, with an average hospitalization duration of 1.11 days. In contrast, the average hospitalization duration for non-COVID-19 chest trauma patients was 1.9 days (p =0.015). Conclusion: Patients with chest trauma who underwent surgery and were infected with COVID-19 demonstrated significant differences in average length of stay, ICU admissions, and pneumonia incidence. However, there was no significant distinction in the mortality rate between the two groups.