title: Burden of traumatic injuries in Saudi Arabia: lessons from a major trauma registry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In Saudi Arabia (SA), injuries are the second leading cause of death; however, little is known about their frequencies and outcomes. Trauma registries play a major role in measuring the burden on population health. This study aims to describe the population of the only hospital-based trauma registry in the country and highlight challenges and potential opportunities to improve trauma data collection and research in SA.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using data between 2001 and 2010, this retrospective study included patients from a large trauma center in Riyadh, SA.
  
  
  METHODS
  A staff nurse utilized a structured checklist to gather information on patients' demographic, physiologic, anatomic, and outcome variables. Basic descriptive statistics by age group ( 14 years) were calculated, and differences were assessed using student t and chi-square tests. In addition, the mechanism of injury and the frequency of missing data were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  10 847 patients from the trauma registry were included. Over 9% of all patients died either before or after being treated at the hospital. Patients who were older than 14 years of age (more likely to be male) sustained traffic-related injuries and died in the hospital as compared to patients who were younger than or equal to years of age. Deceased patients were severely injured as measured by injury severity score and Glasgow Coma Scale (P < .001). Overall, the most frequent type of injury was related to traffic (52.0%), followed by falls (23.4%). Missing values were mostly prevalent in traffic-related variables, such as seatbelt use (70.2%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This registry is a key step toward addressing the burden of injuries in SA. Improved injury classification using the International Classification of Disease-external cause codes may improve the quality of the registry and allow comparison with other populations. Most importantly, injury prevention in SA requires further investment in data collection and research to improve outcomes.
authors: Dr. Suliman Alghnam, King Abdullah International Research Center (KAIMRC) Population Health, PO Box 22490 Riyadh 11426 Saudi Arabia, T: 966566639414, ghnams@ngha.med.sa.
authors: Suliman
authors: S
authors: Alghnam
authors: Muhamad
authors: M
authors: Alkelya
authors: Khalid
authors: K
authors: Al-Bedah
authors: Saleem
authors: S
authors: Al-Enazi
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000401:mortality; D004332:Drowning / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D011041:Poisoning / Q000401:mortality; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012042:Registries / Q000592:standards*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012622:Seat Belts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality; D055815:Young Adult