Trauma patterns in patients attending the Emergency Department of Jazan General Hospital, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Modern civilization and the sharp rise in living standards have led to dramatic changes in trauma pattern in Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to describe the different patterns of injuries of patients attending the Emergency Department of Jazan General Hospital (JGH) in the southwest corner of Saudi Arabia. METHODS:A total number of 1 050 patients were enrolled in the study. A pre-organized data sheet was prepared for each patient attended the Emergency Department of JGH from February 2012 to January 2013. It contains data about socio-demographics, trauma data, clinical evaluation results, investigations as well as treatment strategies. RESULTS:The mean age of the patients was 25.3±16.8 years. Most (45.1%) of the patients were at age of 18-30 years. Males (64.3%) were affected by trauma more common than females. More than half (60.6%) of the patients were from urban areas. The commonest kind of injury was minor injury (60%), followed by blunt trauma (30.9%) and then penetrating trauma (9.1%). The mean time from the incident to arrival at hospital was 41.3±79.8 minutes. The majority (48.2%) of the patients were discharged after management of trivial trauma, whereas 2.3% were admitted to ICU, 7.7% transferred to inpatient wards, and 17.7% observed and subsequently discharged. The mortality rate of the patients was 2.6%.CONCLUSION: Trauma is a major health problem, especially in the young population in Saudi Arabia. Blunt trauma is more frequent than penetrating trauma, with road traffi c accidents accounting for the majority.

Study on Musculoskeletal Trauma in Al. Basrah General Hospital

“…[5] The main types of the trauma in this study were; blunt, which ranks first as prevalent type of trauma followed by penetrating type, a result which is in agreement with other studies. [15,10] Among the subdivisions of blunt trauma, the fall from standing was the most frequent one and the most common predisposing factor in our locality was the floor which is usually uneven like in our houses, and in winter we use thick types of carpet and inappropriate shoes, this result agreed with another study done in Uganda [13] which revealed that fall in elderly were the most common type of injuries followed by RTA. Other studies found the fall from tree were the most common mode of injuries followed by the fall from the roof, which is common during summer, and fall into the wall.…”

“…In the present study the highest proportion of trauma victims was males as compared to females, this result was in consistence with other studies that had been done previously in India (2009) [5] , Saudi Arabia (2015) [10] , Qatar (2012) [11] which found that males were dominant in all age groups of trauma patients. This sex difference in percentages of exposure to trauma can be attributed to the following causes; the routine activities of the earning members of the family (family heads), more exposure to the outside environment, and males are more engaged in hazardous work and activities than females.…”

“…It is worth mentioning here that crowded areas and popular community increase the proportion of accidents and fights, as well as most of the areas away from the city center containing hospitals and health institutions, which reduce the referral of patients where they could receive the full treatment there, except difficult cases are referred to the center hospitals. This result was in agreement with other study, [10] that reported more than half of the patients from urban area, but it disagreed with other study, which concluded that victims from rural population were affected more than the urban population. [5] The main types of the trauma in this study were; blunt, which ranks first as prevalent type of trauma followed by penetrating type, a result which is in agreement with other studies.…”

“…Our results found that the trauma was mostly highest in the 1 st and the second decade of the life of the studied population, while less people exposed to trauma above the age of 50 years and this result was in line with other studies. [5,10,13] That is because, at childhood the increase in activity and endeavor to discover everything around them, and at the same time children at this age try to act as the adult and their knowledge about hazard is little. As to level of education, the most common persons involved in injuries, were those with low levels of education and the least exposed ones to trauma were people who finished university and above.…”

“…The same result was found in Saudi Arabia (2015). [10] The peak time of arrival of trauma patients to the emergency unit was between 6 pm and 12 am, because most of the injuries like traffic or work accidents occur at this time. Traffic injuries occur at this time with a high percentage due to stress and lack of focus among drivers as well as the poor lighting in the streets leading to that many accidents occur after sunset.…”