Trauma: a major cause of death among surgical inpatients of a Nigerian tertiary hospital

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Trauma presents a significant global health burden. Death resulting from trauma remains high in low income countries despite a steady decrease in developed countries. Analysis of the pattern of death will enable intervention to reduce these deaths from trauma in developing countries. This study aims to present the pattern of trauma-related deaths in the surgical wards of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). METHODS: this was a retrospective study of all patients who died from trauma during admission into the surgical wards of UPTH from 2007 to 2012. Data on demography and traumatic events leading to death were collected from surgical wards, the emergency unit, and theatre records and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. RESULTS: trauma accounted for 219 (42.4%) of the 527 mortalities recorded. Most of the deaths (62.6 %) occurred between 20 and 59 years. There were 148 males

Keywords

• trauma
• mortality
• surgical wards
• port harcourt
• nigeria