Epidemiology of Injuries and their Causes among Traumatic Patients Admitted into Poursina Hospital, Rasht (second half of the year 2005)

Background & Objectives: Trauma is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in different countries.  Road accidents are the main causes of death due to trauma.  The injury resulted from traffic accident is one of the neglected problems of public health whose follow-up is necessary.  The purpose of this survey is to study the epidemiology of injuries and their causes in traumatic patients admitted in Poursina hospital in Rasht. This study was conducted by Guilan Trauma Research Center in the second half of the year 2005.

Methods and Materials: This is a cross sectional study carried out on 1141 traumatic patients between September 2005 and March 2006.

Data collected prospectively using a form including demographic data, mechanism of trauma, location of accident, way of transportation, part of the body injured, (based on AIS) and severity of the head injury based on GCS.

Results: In 1141 patients with trauma, the ratio of male to female was 3.6/1.  The mean age of male and female was 31.3±17.25 and 36.69±19.31, respectively.  About 50% of patients were 20-44 years old. The most common causes of injuries were traffic accidents (74.4%) and then falling (14.98%).  47% of the traffic casualties were motorcyclist.  Head and neck were the most injured part of body (80.8%), then limb and pelvis (25.41%).  About 11% of patients suffered from severe head injury.  Most of the injuries occurred in Rasht. Only 3% of patients were transported by emergency ambulance.  Finally, 59 patients died.

Conclusion: To improve the quality of care in traumatic patients, we suggest public training program promotion, improving the situation of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures along with improvement in hospital transport system.