Total Joint Arthroplasty Patient Demographics Before and After Coronavirus Disease 2019 Elective Surgery Restrictions

Socioeconomic disparities in lumbar fusion rates were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…A national study on 767 hospitals assessing all payer types found that White patients experienced the greatest reduction in elective surgeries, compared to other racial groups, suggesting that the pandemic did not exacerbate racial disparities in elective surgical care [6] . Further studies in bariatric, cardiac, and orthopedic surgical subspecialties revealed that patient populations were more diverse (lessened racial and SES disparities) after the onset of the pandemic for some surgical procedures but less diverse (greater racial and SES disparities) for others [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] . Studies assessing academic general surgery departments, however, showed that male, White, and privately insured patients were more likely to undergo medically-necessary procedures during the pandemic [11] and that patients with higher SES (commercial or non-governmental insurance) were more likely to utilize both in-person and telemedicine visits during the pandemic [12] .…”