In 2020, isolation and social distancing measures were taken to contain the new coronavirus, which affected the elderly people's routine improving the susceptibility to trauma in their homes due to the increase in immobility associated with physical activities reduction, which maintains their physical conditioning, and the unsafe home structure.

This study aims to compare the profile of hospitalizations due to falls that occurred in 2019, before the pandemic, with those of 2020 in the context of social isolation in an Emergency Hospital from Porto Alegre.

The authors performed a retrospective observational study. The patient's electronic medical records data were used. Patients of both sexes, over 60 years old, who were admitted to the hospital due to falls during 2019 and 2020 were included to compare both periods. In addition to the sample characterization, information about the type of trauma, type of injury or fracture generated, place where the trauma occurred, month of the year, patient's death, and previous comorbidities were also transmitted.

485 individuals were included, primarily women (71.3%) over 80 years old (36.9%) who avoided falling from their height (76.8%) and had as a consequence the proximal fracture of the hip (2019: 56.7%; 2020: 57.9%) in their homes (92.4%) in both years. There were more emergency discharges in 2019 (2019: 26.8%; 2020: 14.2%) and more transfers in 2020 (2019: 60.7%; 2020: 70.1%). As for seasonality, there were more falls in the months corresponding to winter in 2019 (p=0.004), while in 2020 the distribution was observed throughout the year. The sample characterization data are consistent with other findings in the literature. The injuries in 2020 were more serious, requiring surgical intervention at another hospital.

Although there are similarities in the profile of patients in 2019 and 2020, we can highlight that isolation due to the new coronavirus may have resulted in trauma with more severe injuries compared to the previous year. During the pandemic year, there was a homogeneous distribution of the occurrence of falls, which suggests staying at home is an important risk factor for trauma in the elderly.

The results of this abstract showed that social isolation harmed the severity of falls, suggesting that staying at home may be a risk factor for them. To make the home environment safer and the adoption of home exercises that maintain the physical conditioning of this population can be adopted to improve the quality of life.