Abstract

SANCHEZ, Gustavo; VALSANGIACOMO, Pablo; TROSTCHANSKY, Julio  and  MACHADO, Fernando. Perfil epidemiológico de traumatizados graves en un hospital de agudos. Rev. Méd. Urug. [online]. 2006, vol.22, n.3, pp.179-184. ISSN 1688-0390.

Summary Background. Trauma disease is the main cause of death of younger than 40 years and the third in general population, both in Uruguay and developed countries. However, epidemiologic features of patients on admission are still partially known. We aim at to determine epidemiologic features of traumatic disease at the emergency department of a Montevidean hospital. Methods. In a 21-month period, 101 serious traumatized (clinical criteria) admitted to emergency were recorded for the study. They were categorized according to the Revised Trauma Scale (RTS) and the Injury Severity Score (ISS). Results. Mean age was 34.6 years, men were predominant (80%). The most frequent traumatism was vehicular crash (46.5%), 67.5% were admitted within the first hour after crash and 91% were transported by emergency ambulances. The overall mortality was 20%. Traumatized with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) < 9 due to encephalocraneal trauma, 31% arrived without cervical stabilization. None of the operated traumatized underwent harm control surgery. Conclusions. Epidemiologic features of the population of the study are comparable to other series respecting age, sex and trauma type. Mean ISS for alive patients showed a  sobretriage  for the selection. Lack of guidelines for trauma assistance was evident, showing notorious fails before and during hospitalization.

Keywords : HERIDAS Y TRAUMATISMOS [ epidemiología]; URUGUAY [epidemiología].