Characteristics of Wenchuan earthquake casualties transferred to rear hospitals and their treatment

Abstract

Objective To explore treatment efficacy of Wenchuan earthquake casualties transferred to rear hospitals. Methods A statistic investigation was conducted on the 273 casualties transferred to the Southwest Hospital and Daping Hospital, the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing for further treatment. Their age, gender, rescue time, injured parts, ISS (Injury Severity Score), complications, crush injury and treatment effects were analyzed statistically. Results Ages of the injured ranged from 1 to 96years old, with an average of 48.6 years old. Ten cases were 0-14 years old (3.7%), 114 cases 15-44 years old (41.8%), 81 cases 45-64 years old (29.6%), 68 cases above 65 years old (24.9%). The ratio of male to female was 1:1.13. The average rescue time was 6.7 hours and 50.5% of the injured were rescued within24 hours. As for the injured parts, 5.6% of the patients had injury to head and neck, 0.7% to face, 15.8%to chest, 8.9% to belly, 64.7% to limbs and pelvis and 4.3% to body surface. The ISS ranged from 1 to 37, with an average of 8.6 points. One hundred and seventy-two cases (63.0%) had <16 points, and 101cases (37.0%) ≥16 points. Complications occurred in 55 cases (20.1%), 18 of which (6.5%) had ordinary wound infection, 1 of which (0.4%) gas gangrene, 1 of which (0.4%) lung infection, 2 of which (0.7%) acute renal failure, 6 of which (2.1%) diabetes, and 27 of which (9.9%) crush injury. After hospitalization, patients were given life signs evaluation firstly. Then emergency treatment was carried out to save life or control complications. When conditions were stable, surgery was conducted for 209 patients (76.6%). No death or amputation happened in this series. Conclusion Although 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake caused a large scale of multiple injures, fine and efficient treatment in rear hospitals can increase the curing rate and reduce the death and disability rates. Key words: Earthquake; Injury; Treatment