Surgical Volume of ACL Reconstruction, Knee Arthroscopy, and Rotator Cuff Repair Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Data from 2015 to 2022

The study showed that orthopaedic sports surgery volumes declined in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and had not fully returned to prepandemic levels by 2022. Surgeries postpandemic were more commonly inpatient, required longer operative times, and involved patients with shifting demographic and comorbidity profiles. Understanding and reporting changes in surgical volume, setting, and patient profiles postpandemic may better prepare surgeons and health care institutions for future resource disruptions or impaired elective surgical capabilities.