Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38947612›Full record

ArticleCureus2024

The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Odontogenic Cervicofacial Infections in a Single Center in Greece.

Alexandros Louizakis, Dimitris Tatsis, Konstantinos Paraskevopoulos, Asterios Antoniou, Athanasios Kyrgidis, Konstantinos Vahtsevanos

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Article in Cureus, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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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

6 authors.

Alexandros LouizakisDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, George Papanikolaou General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, GRC.
Dimitris TatsisDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, George Papanikolaou General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, GRC.
Konstantinos ParaskevopoulosDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, George Papanikolaou General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, GRC.
Asterios AntoniouDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, George Papanikolaou General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, GRC.
Athanasios KyrgidisDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, George Papanikolaou General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, GRC.
Konstantinos VahtsevanosDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, George Papanikolaou General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, GRC.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionOdontogenic cervicofacial infections are still an ongoing problem, requiring immediate hospital admittance and management. The aim of this study is to reflect the number of patients with cervicofacial infections who were admitted during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic period in a single, point of reference center in Northern Greece as well as analyze the quantitative and qualitative parameters of patient characteristics and management data.

methodsThis was a retrospective cohort study that included all the patients with cervicofacial infections who were admitted to our unit during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically between 2020 and 2021. For comparative reasons, patients admitted with cervicofacial infections between 2019 and 2020 (pre-COVID period) were analyzed.

resultsIn total, 341 patients fulfilled the criteria for this study. Specifically, the number of admitted patients was 151 in the pre-COVID era instead of 190 patients in the pandemic. The mean age of the patients was 45.3 years, with a slight male predominance (54.7% males to 45.3%). The mean duration of hospitalization was 2.5 days in the pre-COVID period instead of 3.42 days in the pandemic. Interestingly, in the pandemic, eight times more patients were admitted to the ICU post-operatively, in contrast to the pre-COVID period (23 vs 3 patients). Also in the COVID period, almost 54.9% of the patients presented with fever and 49.6% with trismus. Moreover, the submandibular space involvement was the most common space of infection in both COVID and pre-COVID groups with (58.9% and 49.7%) respectively. In one-third of all cases, a post-extraction infection of a third molar was the main cause of abscess.

conclusionCervicofacial infections during the COVID-19 pandemic appeared with more severe symptoms and resulted in an increased number of patients who needed admittance to the intensive care unit, in contrast to the pre-COVID era. Also, the mean length of stay was increased for a day at the same period. This study could be used as an example for further research, in case of similar pandemic situations in the future.

Indexed as

cervicofacial infectionscovid-19 pandemicdental abscessintensive care unit admissionodontogenic infections

Identifiers

PMID38947612
PMCPMC11213832

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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.