Hospital management of abdominal trauma in Tehran, Iran: a review of 228 patients.
OBJECTIVE
Today, trauma is a major public health problem in some countries. Abdominal trauma is the source of significant mortality and morbidity with both blunt and penetrating injuries. We performed an epidemiological study of abdominal trauma (AT) in Tehran, Iran. We used all our sources to describe the epidemiology and outcome of patients with AT.


METHODS
This study was done in Tehran. The study population included trauma patients admitted to the emergency department of six general hospitals in Tehran during one year. The data were collected through a questionnaire that was completed by a trained physician at the trauma center. The statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS software (version 11.5 for Windows). The statistical analysis was conducted using the chi-square and P < 0.05 was accepted as being statistically significant.


RESULTS
Two hundred and twenty-eight (2.8%) out of 8,000 patients were referred to the above mentioned centers with abdominal trauma. One hundred and twenty-five (54.9%) of the patients were in their 2nd and 3rd decades of life and 189 (83%) of our patients were male. Road traffic accidents (RTA) were the leading cause of AT with 119 (52.2%) patients. Spleen was the commonly injured organ with 51 cases. Following the analysis of injury severity, 159 (69.7%) patients had mild injuries (ISS < 16) and 69 (30.3%) patients had severe injuries (ISS equal to 16). The overall mortality rate was 46 (20.2%).


CONCLUSIONS
Blunt abdominal trauma is more common than penetrating abdominal trauma. Road traffic accidents and stab wound are the most common causes of blunt and penetrating trauma, respectively. Spleen is the most commonly injured organ in these patients. The mortality rate is higher in blunt trauma than penetrating one.
Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 11364, Iran. mjsalimi@sina.tums.ac.ir
Javad
J
Salimi
Mohammad
M
Ghodsi
Maryam Nassaji
MN
Zavvarh
Ali
A
Khaji
D000007:Abdominal Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy