Epidemiology and short-term mortality in traumatic patients admitted to Shariati Hospital in Iran between 2012 and 2013

Road Accidents, Polytrauma Patients, and Their Economic Burden

Trauma is a problem of global public health with economic, social and political extensions. It is constantly growing due to road accidents. The cost of hospitalization and the loss of working hours for those who managed to reach the hospital are huge for the national economy of each country. The purpose of the present study is to record the polytrauma patients of road accidents and to search for their economic cost. A total of 68 injured people were the study sample during the period 2014-2017. The study was conducted in a University hospital in Athens (Greece). The mean age of the patients was 36.67 years. The mortality was 13.2% and the mean cost of every polytrauma patient was 14.272 Euros. Nearly half of them had an infection, which increased the cost. Accident prevention, proper and timely treatment of injuries, monitoring, recording and controlling infections and reducing the length of hospitalization are some of the ways to reduce the financial cost of a traumatized person.

Fall-related hospitalization of patients in Iran

PURPOSE

Trauma has been called the neglected disease of modern society. According to WHO, fall is the second major cause of trauma or deaths resulting from unintentional accidents. The aim of this study was to investigate the different types of fall according to International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) in hospitalized patients visiting specialized accident and trauma hospitals of Mashhad, Iran.

METHODS

This was a cross sectional retrospective study performed between March 20, 2013 and March 20, 2014. The research population consisted of all medical records of patients for fall injuries in three specialized accident and trauma hospitals. ICD-10 was adopted to categorize all types of falls (w00-w19). The results obtained were analyzed by SPSS 16.

RESULTS

Altogether 7,448 cases were included. The codes w18 (fall on same level) and w09 (fall involving playground equipment) with the frequencies of 1,856 and 1,303, respectively in both genders had the maximum number of falls. The maximum percentage of mortality has been related to "fall on and from ladder"," fall from cliff "and "fall on same level involving ice and snow".

CONCLUSION

As falls can cause irrecoverable injuries including mortality of people, thus health authorities and policymakers should take preventive measures given the causes of falls and the root of this type of injuries, so that the costs resulting from this cause and its injuries can be reduced.

Five-Year Forecasting Deaths Caused by Traffic Accidents in Fars Province of Iran

Objective:

The aim of study was to conduct a time-based analysis to utilize the obtained knowledge for forecasting the trend of accidents in the future.

Methods:

The present study, which was conducted as a cross-sectional research, investigated deaths from traffic accidents in Fars Province during a five-year period from 2013 to 2018. The pseudo-regression model of Spline was used to predict the increase in mortality rate by 2021.

Results:

The forecasted values indicated a decline in deaths from traffic accidents by 2021. A total of 8020 records of accidents leading to death were included in the study. The mean mortality rate from traffic accidents in the province was approximately estimated to be 33.7 per 100,000 populations. More than half of the people who died (52.36%) were in a car, 25.57% were motorcycle riders, and 19.93% were pedestrians. The highest rate of deaths was observed in the age group of 16 to 25 years old (21.5%). The data indicated a reduction in the rate of death among car riders and pedestrians and an increase in the number of deaths among motorcycle riders. The trend of deaths occurred outside the city had been increasing while the trend of deaths occurred inside the city had been decreasing.

Conclusion:

The present regulations are only able to reduce a small number of deaths each year. In order to achieve a downward trend in mortality with a steeper pace, it is necessary to design and implement more intelligent standards, not merely the stricter ones.

Effect of light pressure stroking massage with sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) oil on alleviating acute traumatic limbs pain: A triple-blind controlled trial in emergency department

OBJECTIVES

Due to adverse effects of common medications used for traumatic pain management, it is crucial to use complementary methods to alleviate this pain. Present study aimed to assess the effect of light pressure stroking massage with topical sesame oil on pain severity of patients with limbs trauma.

METHODS

This triple-blinded randomized trial was conducted on 40 patients with upper or lower extremities trauma in emergency department of Busheher Amir Al-Momenian Hospital, Busheher, Iran, in 2015-2016. Patients received a 5min massage with either liquid paraffin (placebo) or sesame oil on trauma site twice a day for 9days duration. Pain severity was assessed by visual analogue scale in first day (baseline), 3th, 6th and 9th days of intervention in the both groups.

RESULTS

Mean changes of pain severity between two groups was significant in the 6th (-0.20±1.36; P=0.036) and 9th (-0.36±1.12; P<0.001) days of intervention. Regarding to intake of diclofenac, no significant difference was seen between sesame oil and placebo groups during 9days of intervention (575.23±3.11 and 625.13±4.23 respectively, P=0.601). There were no adverse effects during the study in the both groups.

CONCLUSION

Massage with topical sesame oil was associated with significant reduction in pain severity of patients with limbs trauma. Therefore, it is suggested to use this oil on complementary medicine for pain relief due to low cost, easy usage and lack of adverse effects.

Injury epidemiology in Iran: a systematic review

Background:

Injuries are the second greatest cause of mortality in Iran. Information about the epidemiological pattern of injuries is effective in decision-making. In this regard, the aim of the current study is to elaborate on the epidemiology of injuries in Iran through a systematic review.

Methods:

Required data were collected searching the following key words and their Persian equivalents; trauma, injury, accident, epidemiology, prevalence, pattern, etiology, risk factors and Iran. The following databases were searched: Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, MagIran, Iranian scientific information database (SID) and Iran Medex. Some of the relevant journals and web sites were searched manually. The lists of references from the selected articles were also investigated. We have also searched the gray literature and consulted some experts.

Results:

Out of 2747 retrieved articles, 25 articles were finally included in the review. A total of 3234481 cases have been investigated. Mean (SD) age among these cases was 30 (17.4) years. The males comprised 75.7% of all the patients. Only 31.1% of patients were transferred to hospital by ambulance. The most common mechanism of injuries was road traffic accidents (50.1%) followed by falls (22.3%). In road traffic accidents, motorcyclists have accounted for the majority of victims (45%). Roads were the most common accident scene for the injuries (57.5%). The most common injuries were to the head and neck. (47.3%). The mean (SD) Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 8.1(8.6%). The overall case-fatality proportion was 3.8% and 75% of all the mortalities related to road traffic accidents.

Conclusions:

The main priorities in reducing the burden of injuries include: the young, male target group, improving pre-hospital and ambulance services, preventing road traffic accidents, improving road safety and the safety of motorcyclists (compulsory helmet use, safer vehicles, dedicated motorcycle lanes).