Cold Trauma in the Structure of External Causes of Mortality and Disability in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the data of official medical statistics on mortality and disability in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (RS(Y)) as a result of exposure to excessively low natural temperatures. For the retrospective epidemiological analysis, we used the data of the official statistics of RS(Y) for 2011-2015, data on the disability of the Federal State Institution "Main Bureau of Medical and Social Expertise of RS(Y)" for 2014-2016, and data of the burn department of the Center for Emergency Medical Care of Yakutsk for 2014-2016. In Yakutia, during 2011-2015, 662 people died in road accidents, and 812 died as a result of exposure to excessive natural cold; the mortality rates were 13.8 and 17.0 per 100,000 population, respectively. In the structure of external causes of mortality, the share of cold trauma in 2015 was 10.4% (15.1 per 100,000 population), which put cold trauma in the third rank after suicide and murders, having displaced road accidents in fourth place (5.6%, 7.8 per 100,000 population). The disability rate due to frostbites was 1.19 per 100,000 population in 2014 and 1.73 per 100,000 population in 2015 and 2016.

Keywords

• excessive natural cold
• hypothermia
• frostbites
• disability rate
• mortality rate