Traumatic injury among females: does gender matter?

Abstract

BackgroundTrauma remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Generally, the incidence of traumatic injuries is disproportionately high in males. However, trauma in females is underreported.AimTo study the epidemiology and outcome of different mechanisms and types of traumatic injuries in women.MethodsWe conducted a traditional narrative review using PubMed, MEDLINE and EMBASE, searching for English-language publications for gender-specific trauma between January 1993 and January 2013 using key words “trauma”, “gender”, “female” and “women”.ResultsAmong 1150 retrieved articles, 71 articles were relevant over 20 years. Although it is an important public health problem, traumatic injuries among females remain under-reported.ConclusionThere is a need for further research and evaluation of the exact burden of traumatic injuries among females together with the implementation of effective community based preventive programs.

Effect of Hospital Length of Stay on Functional Independence Measure Score in Trauma Patients

“…A study by El-Menyar et al 21 showed similar results to those of the present study regarding the effect of female sex on traumatic injury outcomes. El-Menyar et al proposed that anatomical, physiological, immunological, and hormonal differences in women play an important role in sex-specific trauma outcomes.…”

Rural risk: Geographic disparities in trauma mortality

“…[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] We found that odds of death are higher for patients treated at Level I and II trauma centers. While this may seem inconsistent with established lifesaving ability of trauma center care, 4 this is likely a reflection of trauma system organization and triage decisions, with the most critically injured patients receiving treatment at Level I and II centers.…”

Gender differences in burns: A study from emergency centres in the Western Cape, South Africa

“…Women actually account for approximately 47% of both the global burn deaths and the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) [4]. Whether these differences are a reflection of the risks of sustaining a burn (differential risk [1,2]), of being more severely injured for similar injuries (differential susceptibility [5]), or of being treated differently once injured (differential treatment [6]) is uncertain. Biological differences are more difficult to act upon than those related to exposure to fire and flames (often related to the division of responsibilities and chores within societies and families [6,7]) or treatment (where male and female patients may not be provided with the same amount and quality of care [6]).…”