Ana Carla Ferreira Silva dos Santos

Characterization of victims of trauma treated in an emergency hospital

Objective: to describe the socio-demographic profile of victims of trauma treated in an emergency hospital in Sergipe, Brazil. Method: this is an ecological, retrospective, and quantitative study. The sample consisted of 301 medical records of patients treated between January 2006 and July 2008 at Hospital de Urgencia in Sergipe. The collection was carried out within the period from September to December 2008, after the approval by the Research Ethics Committee of Universidade Federal de Sergipe under the Protocol 2448.0.000.107-08. The variables under study were age, gender, external cause, the most severely affected body region, length of hospital stay, Glasgow Coma Scale, and outcome. The data were analyzed through the software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. Results: the average age was 27.8 years, with a prevalence of males (85.7%), individuals from Sergipe state towns, apart from the capital (56.2%), victims of traffic accidents (47.2%) and aggression (27.6%), predominance of cranioencephalic trauma (61.5%), between Friday and Monday (71.5%), average length of hospitalization of 10 days and hospital discharge (74.1%). Conclusion: the higher frequency of cranioencephalic trauma in male young adults, victims of weekend accidents, suggests the need for intensifying the traffic accident prevention strategies to minimize the occurrence and possible consequences related to trauma. Descriptors: wounds and injuries; mortality; accidents, traffic; external causes.

Traumatic Brain Injury: Consequences and Family Needs

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is one of the most common injuries resulting from external causes and constitutes a global public health problem of great significance. TBI is mainly caused by traffic accidents, violence and falls, with a strong impact on the population’s morbidity and mortality. TBI is a complex injury caused by a cascade of changes in the brain and throughout the body. Its consequences, especially neuropsychiatric ones, do not appear immediately, a characteristic of a silent epidemic (Hampton, 2011). It is considered to be a chronic disease process, according to the World Health Organization, presenting one or more of the following characteristics: permanent, caused by nonreversible pathological alterations, requires special treatment to rehabilitate the patient, or a long period of observation, supervision and care (Masel & DeWitt, 2010). It affects people of all ages, with a higher incidence among those who are 15 to 24 years old and 75 years old or older. It occurs twice as frequently in men as in women, half of all cases are associated with alcohol and can result in physical, cognitive, and psychosocial disability. Due to the large number of cases with disabilities, prevention is of great importance (National Institutes Health [NIH], 1999). There is a worldwide concern to promote widespread awareness, warning people of all classes and ages about how serious a problem TBI is becoming. Good education, knowledge of risk factors and prevention reduces the incidence of trauma and its consequences.