ArticlePlastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open2021
Impact of COVID-19 on Elective Cleft Surgery in Low- and Middle-income Countries.
Article in Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Observational
- Cleft lip and palate surgery during COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia: a 36-month experience at the Bandung Cleft Lip and Palate Center.Archives of craniofacial surgery · 2023Article
- Adapting Elements of Cleft Care Protocols in Low- and Middle-income Countries During and After COVID-19: A Process-driven Review With Recommendations.The Cleft palate-craniofacial journal : official publication of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association · 2023Article
- Impending Backlog of Cleft Palate Patients Due to COVID-19.Annals of global health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic disrupted health systems worldwide, including in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many countries limited the delivery of elective surgery. To date, COVID-19's impact on elective surgery in LMICs has been unquantified. We use operative data from a large international non-government cleft organization to compare case volume for 2019 and 2020 to quantify the impact of COVID-19.
methodsSmile Train supports a partner network of over 1100 partners globally to deliver treatment to children with cleft lip and cleft palate (CLP). Treatment data is documented into a proprietary digital platform, Smile Train Express. We compared monthly treatment data for 2019 to 2020, by country, and by World Bank Income group to describe the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on CLP surgery in LMICs.
resultsOur analysis shows 25,444 (31.4%) fewer primary operations performed between January and December 2020 than in the same period in 2019 with the most significant decline in procedures observed in April 2020. Many countries resumed elective surgery for CLP procedures from May onward and volume approximated that of pre-pandemic baseline by November of 2020.
conclusionsThe emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic had a large impact on health systems and service delivery across the world. We find that this is evident in the delivery of CLP surgery in LMICs. The impact is characterized by a dramatic decrease in surgery rates in April of 2020 with a recovery of surgical volume from July 2020 onwards. The rate of surgical rate recovery is consistent across World Bank Income groups.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
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.