Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33785283›Full record

ArticleFoot and ankle surgery : official journal of the European Society of Foot and Ankle Surgeons2022

The UK foot and ankle COVID-19 national (FAlCoN) audit - Regional variations in COVID-19 infection and national foot and ankle surgical activity.

Lyndon W Mason, Karan Malhotra, Linzy Houchen-Wollof, Jitendra Mangwani, UK FAlCoN Audit Collaborative

Open access · greenAbstract readMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Foot and ankle surgery : official journal of the European Society of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 43% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Lyndon W MasonTrauma and Orthopaedic Consultant, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, L9 7AL, United Kingdom. Electronic address: lyndon.mason@liverpool.ac.uk.
Karan MalhotraTrauma and Orthopaedic Consultant, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust, Brockley Hill, Stanmore, Middlesex, HA7 4LP, United Kingdom; Honorary Clinical Lecturer, Department of Ortho and MSK Science, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Linzy Houchen-WollofSenior Research Associate and Therapy Research Lead, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Infirmary Square, Leicester, LE1 5WW, United Kingdom.
Jitendra MangwaniTrauma and Orthpaedic Consultant, Academic Team of Musculoskeletal Surgery, University Hospitals of Leicester, Gwendolen Road, Leicester LE5 4PW, United Kingdom.
UK FAlCoN Audit Collaborative
Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital · GBUniversity Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust · GBUniversity of Liverpool · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimsThis paper details the impact of COVID-19 on foot and ankle activity in the UK. It describes regional variations and COVID-19 infection rate in patients undergoing foot and ankle surgery before, during and after the first national lock-down. PATIENTS &

methodsThis was a multicentre, retrospective, UK-based, national audit on foot and ankle patients who underwent surgery between 13th January and 31st July 2020. Data was examined pre- UK national lockdown, during lockdown (23rd March to 11th May 2020) and post-lockdown. All adult patients undergoing foot and ankle surgery in an operating theatre during the study period included from 43 participating centres in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Regional, demographic and COVID-19 related data were captured.

results6644 patients were included. In total 0.53% of operated patients contracted COVID-19 (n = 35). The rate of COVID-19 infection was highest during lockdown (2.11%, n = 16) and lowest after lockdown (0.16%, n = 3). Overall mean activity during lockdown was 24.44% of pre-lockdown activity with decreases in trauma, diabetic and elective foot and ankle surgery; the change in elective surgery was most marked with only 1.73% activity during lock down and 10.72% activity post lockdown as compared to pre-lockdown. There was marked regional variation in numbers of cases performed, but the proportion of decrease in cases during and after lockdown was comparable between all regions. There was also a significant difference between rates of COVID-19 and timing of peak, cumulative COVID-19 infections between regions with the highest rate noted in South East England (3.21%). The overall national peak infection rate was 1.37%, occurring during the final week of lockdown. General anaesthetic remained the most common method of anaesthesia for foot and ankle surgery, although a significant increase in regional anaesthesia was witnessed in the lock-down and post-lockdown periods.

conclusionsNational surgical activity reduced significantly for all cases across the country during lockdown with only a slow subsequent increase in elective activity. The COVID-19 infection rate and peaks differed significantly across the country.

Indexed as

COVID-19AdultAnkleCommunicable Disease ControlHumansRetrospective StudiesSARS-CoV-2United KingdomCOVID-19Elective, trauma, diabetesNational auditRegional variationSARS-Cov-2, foot and ankle surgery

Identifiers

PMID33785283
PMCPMC7970797
OpenAlexW3138100478

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.