Analysis of trauma patients during 2012 in Derna Hospital, Libya

Abstract EN

Background; Injuries (accidental and deliberate), are a growing problem and lead to increasing health care spending.

Patterns of injury have been previously studied in various countries but there is a dearth of studies dealing with injury in Libya.

Objective; This study aims to put forward injury data compiled in Derna Hospital, Libya, Methods: Data collected retrospectively from hospital records of all trauma cases managed in Derna hospital from 1st January 2012 to 30th September, 2012, has been analyzed.

Results: There were a total of 797 trauma cases seen.

Out of these 676 (84.8%) patients were male and 121 (15.2%) female.

Musculoskeletal system was most commonly involved (40%).

Majority of the cases seen were violence associated (60%).

Conclusion; In Derna Hospital most of the trauma cases seen were assault related.

There is a further need to study the final outcome of these cases and also to conduct similar studies to compare results in larger Libyan city like Benghazi and Tripoli.

Collation of data from different parts of Libya could then be used to know overall injury related burden which in turn will help to plan better injury mangement protocols.