Pattern of Injuries from Improvised Explosive Devices Who Survived in Somalia

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Injury is a common health problem globally. Explosions are one of the major causes of injuries. Explosions, about half of which are caused by Improvised Explosive Device (IED), impact on the lives of a considerable number of people. The objective of this study is to analyze individuals injured and survived in the Somalia Medina Hospital as a result of IED explosions between January 1-December 31, 2018. METHODS: A retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted using a checklist of 907 patients identified and version 20 SPSS was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The majority of IED victims are between the ages of 21-50 (n = 600, 66.1%), followed by 199 (21.9%) individuals under the age of 20 and 108 (11.9%) over 50. 65.1% (n=590) of the injured are men and 34.9% (n=317) are women. The extremities (n = 580, 63.9%), abdomen (n = 235, 25.9%), head-neck (n = 85, 9.4%), and other body parts (n = 7, 0.8%) were injured by IED blasts. The procedures performed in the hospital were as follows: 520 (57.3 %) patients underwent surgical exploration and 387 (42.7 %) patients received debridement only. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study shows that most injured body part is extremities by IED explosions, and men are the most suffer from this condition. Studies should be done across the country to better understand the extent of the event.

Keywords

• blast injuries
• somalia
• wounds and injuries
• explosions