Publications by authors named "Dieter Steinbrunner"
Analysis of severe hand trauma injury frequency during "Munich's Oktoberfest" within the last 9 years in comparison to years with absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elisabeth M Haas-Lützenberger Constanze Kuhlmann Riccardo E Giunta Karl-Georg Kanz Dieter Steinbrunner
Arch Orthop Trauma Surg
July 2023
Article Synopsis
- Oktoberfest attracts around 6 million visitors annually to Munich, leading to numerous accidents primarily from alcohol-related incidents, with a particular focus on hand injuries.
- Data from a 9-year analysis showed a 66% increase in severe hand injuries during the festival compared to non-festival years, with significant patterns observed before, during, and after the event.
- The findings highlight a high risk of severe hand injuries at Oktoberfest, emphasizing the need for awareness among visitors and medical professionals due to the potential for lasting impairments from such injuries.
Background: Because insufficient data are available, the overall number of patients treated in German emergency departments can only be estimated. It is evident, however, that case numbers have been rising steadily in recent years, and that a lack of capacity is now leading with increasing freuqency to forced centralized allocation of patients by the emergency medical services (EMS) to emergency departments that are, officially, temporarily "closed".
Methods: Trends in patient allocation of this type in greater Munich, Germany, over the years 2013-2019 were analyzed for the first time on the basis of data from 904 997 cases treated by the emergency rescue services.