The impact of COVID-19 on spinal cord injuries and trauma at a tertiary referral centre in Sydney.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has yielded far-reaching consequences for individual health systems as well as society. Although several studies have investigated epidemiological trends due to the pandemic-associated restrictions in patients requiring surgery for general surgical, trauma and orthopaedic aetiologies, there has been no assessment of the impact on spinal trauma and surgery in Australia. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine these changes at an Australian level one tertiary referral spinal cord injury (SCI) centre.