J Korean Soc Emerg Med.
2002 Mar;13(1):39-48.
Epidemiology of Traumatic Accident Deaths
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Emergency Medicine, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Chunan, Korea. gtkim@medigate.net
Abstract
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PURPOSE: Comparing the results of traffic accident deaths between ours and a previous study, we assessed the improvement in the emergency medical service system and the traumatic care system.
METHODS
Three hundred twenty-one traumatic accident deaths occurring in Chunan and the nearby region between 1999 and 2000 were reviewed; data were obtained from paramedic trip reports, medical records, and radiological findings.
RESULTS
One hundred fifty-eight (49%) deaths occurred in the prehospital setting. The remaining 163 (51%) patients were transported to the hospital. Of these, 89 (55%) died in the first 48 hours (acute), 26 (16%) within three to seven days (early) and 48 (29%) after seven days (late). Central nervous system injuries were the most frequent cause of death (57%), followed by exsanguination (25%) and organ failure (8%). Two distinct peaks of time were found on analysis: 50% of the patients died within the first 60 minutes, and 9% of the patients died at three to seven days after injury. The overall preventable death rate was 24%.
CONCLUSION
Access to the prehospital emergency medical system was improved, and there was greater proportion of late deaths due to brain injury. We found the distribution to be a bimodal distribution.
