Assessment of mechanism, type and severity of injury in multiple trauma patients: A cross sectional study of a trauma center in Iran

Abstract

PurposeTo accurately assess the mechanism, type and severity of injury in Iranian multiple trauma patients of a trauma center.MethodsPatients with multiple traumas referring to the emergency department of Hasheminejad University Hospital in Mashhad, Iran, entered this cross sectional study from March 2013 to December 2013. All the patients with injury severity score (ISS) > 9 were included in this study. Data analysis was performed by SPSS software (Version 11.5) and P values less than 0.05 were considered as significant differences.ResultsAmong the 6306 hospitalized trauma patients during this period, 148 had ISS>9. The male female ratio was 80%. The mean age of the patients was (33.5 ± 19.3) years. And 71% of the patients were younger than 44 years old. There were 19 (13%) deaths from which 68.5% were older than 44 years old. The mean transfer time from the injury scene to hospital was (55 ± 26) minutes. The most frequent mechanisms of injury were motorcycle crashes and falling from height, which together included 66.2% of all the injuries. A total of 84% of hospital deaths occurred after the first 24 h of hospitalization. Head and neck were the most common body injured areas with a prevalence of 111 cases (75%).ConclusionMotorcycle crashes have high frequency in Iran. Since most victims are young males, injury prevention strategies should be considered to reduce the burden of injuries.

Erythropoietin in the Evaluation of Treatment Outcomes in Patients with Polytrauma

“…Considering demographic and clinical characteristics of patients assigned to diff erent groups based on their ISS score, it is seen that the second group (with more severe injuries) involved younger population, more fatal outcomes and longer hospital stay. Similar results were obtained by Reihani et al, whose study, similar to ours, showed traffi c injuries as the major cause of polytrauma and larger proportion of young males with more serious injuries 31 .…”

A Review of Assessment and Treatment of Trauma in Emergency Department

“…Traumas caused by road traffic crashes (RTC) and violence between individuals are two of the main sources of worldwide mortality cases which could be prevented through appropriate training programs. As reported by Reihani et al [6] more than one million deaths happen worldwide each year due to RTC mainly among people aged between 10-40 years that consist of more than 15% of all deaths in the world. On the other hand, traumas induced by road traffic accidents are estimated to cause more than fifty million deaths each year in the world [6].…”

“…Moreover, one of the main leading causes of happening these kinds of traumas in Iran are RTCs. On the other hand, based on the results represented by Reihani et al [6] the annual rate of incidence of all kinds of traumas among Iranian people is estimated to be about 90% of all populations.…”

“…Anyway, for achieving an adequate systematic, safe, and appropriate treatment procedure for the management of trauma patients the overall knowledge of emergency medicine should be enhanced that could help in decreasing the potential risks of consequences and mortality following the trauma [5,6]. In this regard, all the emergency department staff and its associated specialists should be capable of giving appropriate and adequate medical services to the trauma patients for helping them remaining in a safe situation.…”

“…Due to the fact that some kinds of traumas that cause disability and mortality could not be prevented easily among adults, there is a high demand for being informed about more clear indications of these traumas, the present study was carried out for assessment and treatment of trauma mainly in emergency medicine departments [6]. In this regard for achieving the most appropriate algorithms for assessment and treatment of various kinds of possible traumas in the emergency department situations, the rules, training programs, and medical techniques should be modified regularly.…”