title: Trauma in elderly people: access to the health system through pre-hospital care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to identify the prevalence of trauma in elderly people and how they accessed the health system through pre-hospital care.
  
  
  METHODS
  documentary and retrospective study at a mobile emergency care service, using a sample of 400 elderly trauma victims selected through systematic random sampling. A form validated by experts was used to collect the data. Descriptive statistical analysis was applied. The chi-square test was used to analyze the association between the variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Trauma was predominant among women (52.25%) and in the age range between 60 and 69 years (38.25%), average age 74.19 years (standard deviation±10.25). Among the mechanisms, falls (56.75%) and traffic accidents (31.25%) stood out, showing a significant relation with the pre-hospital care services (p<0.001). Circulation, airway opening, cervical control and immobilization actions were the most frequent and Basic Life Support Services (87.8%) were the most used, with trauma referral hospitals as the main destination (56.7%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  trauma prevailed among women, victims of falls, who received pre-hospital care through basic life support services and actions and were transported to the trauma referral hospital. It is important to reorganize pre-hospital care, avoiding overcrowded hospitals and delivering better care to elderly trauma victims.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Monsenhor Walfredo Gurgel, Natal, RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Hilderjane Carla
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Atendimento Móvel de Urgência, Natal, RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Renata de Lima
authors.initials: Rde L
authors.lastname: Pessoa
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rejane Maria Paiva
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: de Menezes
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*