Clinical characteristics of patients admitted to Samsun Training and Research Hospital from the Turkiye-Syria earthquake region

Aims: After the two major earthquakes that occurred in the Türkiye-Syria region on February 6th, 2023, earthquake casualties presented to hospitals in various centers across the country. This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of the presentations made to the emergency department and outpatient clinics of our tertiary hospital from the earthquake region after the earthquake. Methods: A total of 1534 earthquake casualties who were admitted to the Samsun Training and Research Hospital emergency department and outpatient clinics with the diagnosis code X-34 were included in the study. The data of the patients were scanned retrospectively through the online system and age, sex, presentation date, clinic and hospitalization status were recorded. Results: The mean age of the patients was 24.6±25.9 (range: 0-98) years. Six hundred eighty-six (44.7%) patients were male, 441 (28.7%) were age under 18 years, and 1199 (78.2%) were admitted or brought to the emergency room or intensive care units (ICUs). A total of 210 (13.7%) patients were hospitalized after being admitted or brought to the hospital. No fatalities were recorded among the earthquake casualties who presented. A total of 730 (47.6%) patients were admitted to our hospital within the first 30 days after the earthquake. The highest presentation peak period was between days 5 and 9. The mean age in women, inpatients, patients presnting to outpatient clinics, and patients from Adana, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş and Osmaniye provinces was significantly higher than the other groups (p<0.001 for each). The rates of hospitalized patients were found to be significantly higher in women (p=0.002), patients presenting to outpatient clinics (p<0.001), and patients presenting within the first 30 days after the earthquake compared to other groups (p<0.001). The rates of patients presenting to emergency rooms or ICUs were significantly higher in men (p=0.011) and in those who presented within the first 7 days after the earthquake compared with the other groups (p=0.001). Conclusion: The findings obtained from our study indicated that the prognosis was good for earthquake casualties who presented to our hospital, which is far from the center of a major earthquake, that the highest number of presentations was between the 5th and 9th days, the period between the earthquake and the hospital admission was a determining factor in terms of the clinic presented and hospitalization, and the proximity to the center of the earthquake did not affect the prognosis in presentations. Our findings also show that the age group is an important factor in terms of the clinic of presentation, hospitalization, the period after the earthquake, and the province from which the presentation is made.