Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Trauma is considered as a worldwide problem despite socio-economic development. Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are the most important cause of trauma. Trauma related deaths are mostly preventable. This study aimed to investigate the causes and prevention of death in trauma patients.
METHODS: This retrospective, descriptive-analytic study assessed 100 trauma patients referred to our emergency department (ED) from January 2013 to Januanry 2015. The included patients were those with trauma died after arrival at our ED. Age, sex, cause of trauma, clinical causes of death, causes of death defined by autopsy, way of transfer to the ED, time of ambulance arrival at the scene of trauma, and time elapsed to enter the ED from the scene of trauma were studied.
RESULTS: In the 100 patients, 21 (21%) patients were female and 79 (79%) male. Forty-three patients were older than 60 years. Trauma was largely due to pedestrian accidents in 31% of the patients, and 33% had a hypo-volemic shock. About 80% of deaths were due to intra-cranial hemorrhage (ICH) or intra-ventricular hemorrhage (IVH), and spinal injuries were not preventable. Autopsy revealed that 28% of the patients suffered from internal injuries. Autopsy revealed that 19% of the deaths were not preventable and 81% were considered preventable. In our patients, 76 were transferred to the hospital by emergency medicine services (EMS). Analysis of time for ambulance arrival to the scene and frequency of death revealed that 52.2% of the deaths occurred between 11 and 15 minutes. Analysis of time for admission to the ED from the scene of trauma showed that 74.6% deaths occurred between 6 and 10 minutes.
CONCLUSIONS: The rate of hospital preventable deaths is about 80%, a high mortality rate, which denotes a lack of proper diagnosis and treatment. The time for arrival of EMS at the scene of trauma is longer than that in other countries.

Key words: Trauma, Preventable death