Local Anesthetic Infusion for Improving Pain From Head and Neck Cancer Surgery—Reply

Abstract

712 268. Based on low estimates for each event, the number of US individuals who are expected to develop COD is 170 238, and based on the highest estimate, the number is 1 600 241.Discussion | This analysis of new daily cases of COVID-19, acute incidence of OD, and rates of recovery suggest that more than 700 000, and possibly as many as 1.6 million, US individuals experience COD because of SARS-CoV-2. To put this number in context, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders estimated that, among US adults 40 years or older, measurable OD was found in up to 13.3 million adults. 6 Notably, the agespecific prevalence of OD is 4.2% for individuals between age 40 to 49 years and 39.4% for individuals 80 years and older. The addition of 0.7 to 1.6 million new cases of COD represents a 5.3% to 12% relative increase. COVID-19 affects a younger demographic group than other causes of OD. Thus, the lifelong burden of OD will be much greater for the COVID-19 cohort than for patients in the older age groups. The true number of COD may be far higher than the results in this article indicate. The main limitation of this study is the inability to obtain the true number of cases, as state-reported positive cases likely underestimate the true number of positive cases. Furthermore, the estimates for the incidence of acute and chronic OD are derived from relatively healthier, ambulatory patients. The incidence of OD may be higher among patients who were hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2. These data suggest an emerging public health concern of OD and the urgent need for research that focuses on treating COVID-19 COD.