IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS OF SEVERELY INJURED TRAUMA PATIENTS IN ETHIOPIA: A 3-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW Nichole.Starr@ucsf.edu

PW05-14

IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS OF SEVERELY INJURED TRAUMA PATIENTS IN ETHIOPIA: A 3-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW

8

United States

Oral only

Trauma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries, particularly those that lack mature trauma systems. Ethiopia’s ALERT Hospital, a designated trauma center serving 3.5 million people, has maintained a trauma registry since 2021 and treats a wide range of acuity due to the lack of organized prehospital care. This study aims to improve triage by identifying key characteristics of patients with severe injuries at ALERT.

We identified patients in the WHO IRTEC Trauma Registry from 2021-2024 at ALERT with severe injuries, defined as direct transfer from emergency department to the operating room, intensive care unit (ICU), or morgue. We compared injury patterns, initial vitals and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), and calculated the Kamala Trauma Score II (KTS) and Shock Index (SI).

Of 10,428 patients, 315 (3.0%) had severe injuries. The severely injured had more penetrating trauma (21.5% vs 11.3%, p<0.001), transfer from another health center (57.5% vs 24.5%, p<0.001), and longer median time to presentation (4.03 vs 2.33 hours, p=0.004). They had lower GCS (12.9 versus 14.9, p<0.001) but no difference in other injury patterns or vitals. Patients with ICU admission or mortality more often met criteria for severe injury (KTS ≤ 6; SI ≥ 1.0).

Of 10,000 patients, few had severe injuries, with the majority of those initially presenting to outside facilities. KTS and SI may be valuable in triaging patients, though are not comprehensive. Improving pre-hospital care for rapid triage of patients to designated trauma centers is needed.