[What were the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on trauma care in the Netherlands?]

The COVID-19 pandemic changed daily practice in a number of ways. In a recent article it was shown that mortality in multitrauma patients with mild to moderate head injury, was higher compared to pre-COVID-19 mortality. The authors describe possible mechanisms for this higher mortality, for instance scarcity of IC beds and changes in Intensive care unit admissions. However, the study only showed mortality data, not the complete range of possible outcomes. In multitrauma patients, mere survival is not necessarily a good outcome. It would be very interesting to know whether the increased mortality is a accompanied by a lower proportion of patients who need daily care. If that is the case, then the conclusion of the authors that the COVID-19 pandemic leads to worse outcomes needs to be nuanced.