# A Comparative Analysis of the Incidence of Pediatric Orbital Fractures Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Japanese Population

## TL;DR

This study found no significant change in the incidence of pediatric orbital fractures in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into how pandemic restrictions affected children's physical activity and injury rates in Japan.

## Key findings

- The most common cause of injury was sports in both pre-pandemic and pandemic periods.
- There was no statistically significant difference in the daily rate of patient consults during the pandemic.
- Children's physical activities did not significantly decline despite pandemic restrictions.

## Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study is to compare data on the incidence of pediatric orbital fractures before the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and during the period of the pandemic in the Japanese population.

Methods: This retrospective, single-center, observational study including 225 patients (226 sides) aged ≤ 18 years old diagnosed with orbital fracture was conducted in our institution from March 2017 to April 2023. The study compared the incidence of pediatric orbital fractures in the pre-pandemic period from March 2017 to March 2020 and during the pandemic from April 2020 to April 2023.

Results: The most common cause of injury was sports in both groups (137 sides, 60.6%), and the ratio of causes of injury (P = 0.610) or between outdoor and indoor sports (P = 1.000) was not statistically different between the groups. Although the daily rate of patient consults was lowest during the country’s state of emergency with priority preventative measures, the difference between pre-pandemic and pandemic was not statistically significant (P = 0.911).

Conclusion: Despite the restrictions mandated by the Japanese government during the COVID-19 pandemic, the physical activities of children did not significantly decline. Hence, the risk of pediatric orbital fractures remained the same.