Abstract
[Introduction] Since the first infected person was confirmed in Japan on January 15, 2020, the novel coronavirus has become a serious crisis management issue, and people's lifestyles have changed significantly. We examined how plastic surgery patient trends have changed over the past three years of the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods: We compared the average number of surgical patients during the five years before the outbreak of COVID-19 and the number of cases during the epidemic (January 2020-December 2022). In addition, we classified the surgeries performed during this period into acute-stage diseases (trauma, malignant tumors, acute infections) and non-acute-stage diseases (chronic ulcers, benign tumors, congenital anomalies), and examined changes in surgical tendencies. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic during this time, the period during which surgery was recommended to be postponed was approximately 340 days. [Results] While the number of surgeries in all departments decreased significantly (-6.2%), the number of plastic surgeries decreased by 13.2%. Comparing the acute disease group and non-acute disease group, there was no significant change in the non-acute disease group, while the acute disease group showed a significant decrease of -17.8%. In particular, surgery for trauma decreased significantly by -18.2%, and surgery for malignant tumors decreased by -25.4%. The decrease in injuries is considered to be related to the fact that the number of traffic accidents in 2020-2021 was the lowest on record, and that the number of injuries was on a downward trend nationwide due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The decrease in malignant tumors is considered to be related to the 30-50% decrease in the number of people undergoing health checkups in 2020-2021. [Conclusion] 1. The number of plastic surgeries has decreased compared to before the COVID-19 epidemic. 2. The number of surgeries in the acute disease group decreased significantly, and the decrease in the number of surgeries for trauma and malignancies was marked. 3. Even during the COVID-19 epidemic, the impact on the decrease in the number of surgeries was less pronounced in the second half.