Pattern of admission, outcome and predictors of trauma patients visiting the surgical emergency department in comprehensive specialized hospital: a retrospective follow-up study

Abstract

Background: Traumatic injuries represent a huge burden in the developing world, and a significant proportion has found in low-income and middle-income countries. However, the pattern, outcome and factors of injury varies from setup to setup and is less studied in public health problems. Objective: To assess pattern of admission, outcome and its predictors among trauma patients visiting the surgical emergency department in a comprehensive specialized hospital. Methods: A retrospective follow-up study was conducted, and data were taken from the medical records of patients from 2019 to 2021. A simple random sampling technique was used to get a sample size of 386 from injured patient charts. Data were entered into Epi-Data version 4.6 software and exported to STATA version 14.1 for analysis. The dependent variable was injured patient’s outcome, which could be died or not died. The independent variables with P value less than 0.25 in the bi-variable regression analysis were considered for the multivariable regression. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with the 95% CI were used to declare statistical significance. Result: About 13.99% of injured patients with (95% CI: 10, 17) had died during the study period. The leading cause of injury was assault (62.44%) followed by road traffic accidents (26.17%). Severe Glasgow Coma Scale (AOR 6.6; 95% CI: 2.6–16.4), length of hospital stay more than or equal to 7 days (AOR=2.8; 95% CI: 1.2–6.2), time of arrival in between 1 and 24 h (AOR=0.15; 95% CI: 0.06–0.37), and upper trunk injury (AOR=6.3; 95% CI: 1.3–28.5) were significantly associated with mortality. Conclusion and recommendation: Mortality after traumatic injury was considerably high. Severe Glasgow Coma Scale, Length of hospital stay more than or equal to 7 days, time of arrival in between 1 and 24 h, and upper trunk injury were the associated factors for mortality. Priority should be given for injured patients with decreased levels of consciousness and upper trunk injury. The establishment of organized pre-hospital emergency services and provision of timely arrival is recommended. The authors recommend prospective follow-up study.