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- Talk
- 11/03/2021
- UK
The UK Foot and Ankle COVID-19 National (FAlCoN) Audit - Rate of COVID-19 Infection and 30 Day Mortality in Foot and Ankle Surgery in the UK
Description
In this presentation, Linzy Houchen-Wolloff, the physiotherapy research lead at the University Hospitals of Leicester, discusses the findings of the UK Foot and Ankle COVID-19 National Audit (FAlCoN) conducted during the pandemic. The audit aimed to assess the incidence of COVID-19 among patients undergoing foot and ankle surgery, as well as to evaluate the 30-day mortality rate associated with COVID-19 infection.
The report highlights significant insights, indicating that COVID-19 infection was relatively uncommon in foot and ankle surgery patients, with only 35 out of 6,644 patients contracting the virus, yielding an incidence rate of 0.53%. The patients most affected were those who were older and had multiple comorbidities, particularly within the trauma and diabetic patient groups. Notably, the mortality rate for patients who contracted COVID-19 was alarmingly high at 25.71%, far exceeding the overall 30-day all-cause mortality rate of 0.41%. The presentation emphasizes the importance of recognizing these risks to ensure that both patients and healthcare providers can make informed decisions regarding surgical procedures and patient care during such critical times.
The presentation concludes by acknowledging the collaborative effort in conducting the audit and mentions ongoing data collection to further enhance understanding of these trends, signaling future updates and research papers to emerge from the findings.