Profile of trauma patients in the emergency department of a tertiary centre in Nigeria: a five-year review

Background: Trauma contributes significantly to morbidity, loss of productive man-hours, disability and mortality in both the developed and developing world. Aim: To describe the profile of injuries presenting at the Accident and Emergency Department of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. Methods: A retrospective review of the admission records and in-patient records of trauma patients admitted in the Accident and Emergency unit of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. Patients’ demographics, presenting complaint at admission, treatment spectrum, emergency treatment received and the specialist for definitive treatment were extracted and analyzed. Results were presented in tables and charts where necessary. Means and standard deviations were used to represent certain variables. Results: Records from 10,787 (out of 10,939 persons) that presented with traumatic injuries were included, giving an inclusion rate of 98.6%. Crude injury prevalence rate was 25.4% while crude mortality rate was 7.1%. Male: female ratio was 3.4:1, the mean age was 33.17+/-16.1years while the most common age group was the 21-30-year age group. Road traffic accidents (RTAs) accounted for 46.3% of all injury mechanisms seen. Skin and subcutaneous injuries (39.5%) were the most commonly injured body region, followed by bone fractures (31.6%). Most patients were stabilized and transferred to the ward/ theatre/Intensive Care Unit (63.7%) while 21.7% of patients were discharged home after initial stabilization. Conclusion: A quarter of disease burden in the emergency room is from traumatic conditions with the young adult male being the most common victim. RTAs contribute to 46.3% of injury mechanisms.