TY - JOUR
T1 - Epidemiology of trauma deaths
AU - Baker, Christopher C.
AU - Oppenheimer, Luis
AU - Stephens, Boyd
AU - Lewis, Frank R.
AU - Trunkey, Donald D.
N1 - Funding Information:
From the Departmem of Sugery and Trauma Center, University of California at San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California. Supported in part by Grant GM 18470 from the U.S. Public Health Service, Bethesda, Maryland. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Donald D. Trunkey, MD. Department of Surgery and Trauma Center, University of California at San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California 94110. Presented at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Surgical AS- sociation, Kauai. Hawaii, February 17-20, 1980.
PY - 1980/7
Y1 - 1980/7
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.1016/0002-9610(80)90431-6
DO - 10.1016/0002-9610(80)90431-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 7396078
AN - SCOPUS:0018849565
SN - 0002-9610
VL - 140
SP - 144
EP - 150
JO - The American Journal of Surgery
JF - The American Journal of Surgery
IS - 1
ER -