Scientific paper
Epidemiology of trauma deaths,☆☆

https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9610(80)90431-6Get rights and content

Abstract

The records of all 437 persons who died from trauma in San Francisco in 1977 were examined. Sixty-five percent of the sample (285 were younger than 50 years, and 119 were between ages 21 and 30. Gunshot wounds (140 or 32 percent) and falls (122 or 28 percent) were the most common causes of injury. Fifty-three percent of the sample were dead at the scene of injury before transport could be accomplished, 7.5 percent died in the emergency room, and 39.5 percent died in the hospital. Fifty-five percent of the 359 patients who died within the first 2 days died from brain injury, while 78 percent of the 55 late deaths were due to sepsis and multiple organ failure. In 10 cases (2 percent), death was due to delayed transport or to errors in diagnosis and treatment and was deemed preventable. The key areas in which advances are necessary in order to reduce the number of trauma deaths are prevention of trauma, more rapid and skilled transport of injured victims, better early management of primary brain injuries, and more effective treatment of the late complications of sepsis and multiple organ failure.

References (24)

  • GC Cayten et al.

    Severity indices and their implications for emergency medical services research and evaluation

    J Trauma

    (1979)
  • Committee on medical aspects of automotive safety

    Rating the severity of tissue damage. I. The abbreviated scale

    JAMA

    (1971)
  • Cited by (548)

    • Changes of pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) level in polytrauma patients in the early post-traumatic period

      2021, Peptides
      Citation Excerpt :

      The 5 million deaths yearly represent only a small proportion of the injured patients, many of those who survive are left with temporary or permanent disability [1]. Many polytrauma victims die within the first 48 h after admission [2–4], however, improvements in traumatology and intensive therapy have caused a right-shift in time of mortality after the injury [5]. A complex and dynamic immune response is initiated almost immediately after the physical trauma comprising of pro- and anti-inflammatory responses.

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Supported in part by Grant GM 18470 from the U.S. Public Health Service, Bethesda, Maryland.

    ☆☆

    Presented at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Surgical Association, Kauai, Hawaii, February 17–20, 1980.

    1

    From the Department of Surgery and Trauma Center, University of California at San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California.

    View full text