A recent study evaluated the impact of COVID-19-related disruptions on care continuity and outcomes of chronic wounds. It retrospectively searched Electronic medical records for 152,225 chronic wounds from a network of 488 wound care clinics.

The study compared the wound and patient characteristics, the number of chronic wounds newly seen at the clinics, and 12-week healing rates between the first two quarters of 2019 and 2020. It evaluated whether the pandemic was associated with a statistically significant change in the probability of 12-week wound healing after risk adjustment.

The study found-

• During the pandemic, wound and patient characteristics remain unchanged from the previous year.
• Case volume dropped by 40% in April 2020 but returned to the previous year′s level by June.
• Measures of care continuity remained systematically unchanged.
• Unadjusted 12-week healing rates stayed constant at 0.502 in 2019 and 0.503 in 2020.
• Likewise, risk-adjusted 12-week healing rates were 0.504 and 0.505 in 2019 and 2020, respectively, with no significant difference.
• Case volume declined considerably in States with stricter lockdowns.
• However, most states did not relate the pandemic with a significant change in the probability of 12-week wound healing.
• The percentage of wounds with one or more telehealth visits grew from 0.14% in 2019 to 1.04% in 2020.

This study concludes that despite COVID-19-related disruptions, wound care clinics maintained standards of care and outcomes for patients who sought care. These positive results, however, agree that the number of new wounds seen at the clinics dropped sharply. Further research should assess outcomes in patients with unattended chronic wounds.

Source: J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2022 Apr;23(4):660-665.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2021.11.001.