85 Did Shelter-in-place Mandate Lead to an Increase in Suspected Abuse Cases?

Williams, Felicia N; Sljivic, Sanja; Chrisco, Lori; Maxwell, Eli; Hollowell, Jamie; Nizamani, Rabia; King, Booker

INTRODUCTION: The shelter-in-place mandate to mitigate the effects from the 2019 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was associated with an increase in admissions of school-aged children to our burn center but a decrease in adult admissions. It was unclear how many admissions were from suspected abuse. Our objective was to determine the social impact of the shelter-in-place mandate on the number of burn admissions secondary to suspected abuse during the COVID pandemic compared to previous years. METHODS: Patients were identified using Institutional Burn Center registry and linked to the clinical and administrative data. All patients admitted from January 1, 2016 to July 31, 2020 with suspected abuse were eligible for inclusion. Demographics, patient and burn characteristics were evaluated. Statistical analysis was performed with Students’ t-test, and chi-squared test. RESULTS: There were 7177 patients included in the study. Prior to 2020, each year the percentage of cases with suspected abuse decreased compared to previous years (19% decrease in 2017, 23% decrease in 2018, 30% decrease in 2019). Compared 2019, the number of patients admitted with suspected abuse during the COVID pandemic increased 257%, p=0.00046. There were no significant differences in race, ethnicity, sex, burn mechanism, or burn size in those admitted with abuse-related injuries. The average age of patients with abuse-related injuries in 2020 was 13 years old, compared to an average age of 28 years old for the period from 2016–2019 (p< 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant increase in number of patients admitted for suspected abuse. Shelter-in-place mandate limited viral transmission of COVID-19 but led to unfathomable increases in abuse cases at our institution.