Penetrating stab injuries in Iceland: a whole-nation study on incidence and outcome in patients hospitalized for penetrating stab injuries

Abstract

BackgroundStudies on penetrating injuries in Europe are scarce and often represent data from single institutions. The aim of this study was to describe the incidence and demographic features of patients hospitalized for stab injury in a whole nation.Materials and methodsThis was a retrospective nationwide population-based study on all consecutive adult patients who were hospitalized in Iceland following knife and machete-related injuries, 2000–2015. Age-standardized incidence was calculated and Injury Severity Score (ISS) was used to assess severity of injury.ResultsAltogether, 73 patients (mean age 32.6 years, 90.4% males) were admitted during the 16-year study period, giving an age-standardized incidence of 1.54/100,000 inhabitants. The incidence did not vary significantly during the study period (P = 0.826). Most cases were assaults (95.9%) occurring at home or in public streets, and involved the chest (n = 32), abdomen (n = 26), upper limbs (n = 26), head/neck/face (n = 21), lower limbs (n = 10), and the back (n = 6). Median ISS was 9, with 14 patients (19.2%) having severe injuries (defined as ISS > 15). The median length of hospital stay was 2 days (range 0–53). Forty-seven patients (64.4%) underwent surgery and 26 of them (35.6%) required admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), all with ISS scores above 15. Three patients did not survive for 30 days (4.1%); all of them had severe injuries (ISS 17, 25, and 75).ConclusionStab injuries that require hospital admission are rare in Iceland, and their incidence has remained relatively stable. One in every five patients sustained severe injuries, two-thirds of whom were treated with surgical interventions, and roughly one-third required ICU care. Although some patients were severely injured with high injury scores, their 30-day mortality was still low in comparison to other studies.

Imaging of penetrating thoracic trauma in a large Nordic trauma center

“…The mean age of men in this cohort was 34.9 years (93.8% men); in a recent study of 547 blunt chest trauma patients the mean age was 46.6 years (74.0% men) (18). Predominance of young men is in concurrence with previous studies on penetrating trauma (4,19,20).…”

Pattern of Abdominal Stab Injury in a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria

“…However, higher figures were reported in South Africa and Australia compared to the present study. [14,15] In Iceland, stab injuries are reportedly uncommon with an average of four cases per year. [16] The present study revealed a male predominance (88%) with a male to female ratio of 7.5:1.…”

Pattern and Outcome of Assaulted Penetrating Thoracic and Abdominal Trauma Cases: A Two Years Prospective Study

“…Also, stabbing was found to be the most common cause of penetrating abdominal trauma than gunshot wounds (66.67% versus 33.33%) in a previous Egyptian study (Saleem et al, 2016) but the percentage of firearm was higher as this study was conducted in upper Egypt where firearm weapons were more available. Moreover, chest and abdomen were reported as the most common sites of stab wounds (Johannesdottir et al, 2019;Nishimura et al, 2017). However, gunshot was the most common cause of penetrating injuries in other studies (Lone et al, 2001).…”

“…Penetrating wound is applied to wound which passes through the tissues, enters a body cavity, like abdominal cavity or thoracic cavity (Begum et al, 2014). Penetrating trauma from either gunshot wounds or stab injuries is a major healthcare problem (Johannesdottir et al, 2019). The severity of the injury varies widely depending on the site of body involved, the characteristics of the penetrating object, and the amount of energy transmitted to the tissues (Patel et al, 2016).…”