The Impact of The COVID-19 Pandemic on Hospital Admissions Due to Road Traffic Crashes; a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: During the unprecedented COVID-19 lockdowns, road traffic was limited, and a change in the traumatic emergency admission pattern was anticipated. We conducted the current systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital admissions due to road traffic crashes.

Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted based on the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) instructions. The following databases were searched: PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus, ProQuest, and the Cochrane Library. Two independent reviewers screened articles based on the inclusion criteria for the review and assessed the methodological quality of the included studies using an appropriate appraisal checklist, introduced by the JBI, based on the study type. The meta-analysis was performed using Comprehensive meta-analysis (CMA) software. Considering the heterogeneity among studies, a random effect model was adopted to estimate the pooled effect with 95% confidence interval (CI) for binary outcomes.

Results: A total of 13 studies were included in this systematic review, and all of them were considered for meta-analysis. According to the meta-analysis, differences in hospital admission rates during the COVID-19 pandemic and one year before this pandemic were statistically significant [RR: 0.685 CI 95% (0.578 -0.813) p<0.00001]. The heterogeneity assessment of the included studies in the meta-analysis showed high heterogeneity (I²=78%, p<0.00001).

Conclusion: The results of this systematic review showed that the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically reduced the number of hospital admissions related to road traffic crashes because of both quarantines and lifestyle changes. Health policymakers and top health managers might use the results of this systematic review in similar contexts in the future.