Abstract
BackgroundThis study aimed to analyse the injuries sustained by rescue workers in earthquake relief efforts in high altitude areas for improving the ways of how to effectively prevent the injuries.MethodsThe clinical data of 207 relief workers from four military hospitals in Tibet, who were injured in the Tibetan disaster areas of China during ‘4.25’ Nepal earthquake rescue period, was retrospectively analyzed. The demographic features, sites of injury and causes of injury were investigated.ResultsThe most frequently injured sites were the ankle-foot and hand-wrist (n = 61, 26.5 %), followed by injuries in leg-knee-calf (n = 22, 9.6 %), head-neck (4.87 %), thoracic and abdominal region (2.6 %) and lower back (3.9 %). The specific high-altitude environment increased the challenges associated with earthquake relief.DiscussionThe specific plateau environment and climate increased the burden and challenge in earthquake relief. The injury distribution data shown in this study demonstrated that effective organization and personnel protection can reduce the injury occurrences.ConclusionRelief workers were prone to suffering various injuries and diseases under specific high-altitude environment.
Highlights
This study aimed to analyse the injuries sustained by rescue workers in earthquake relief efforts in high altitude areas for improving the ways of how to effectively prevent the injuries
Out-patient and in-patient records were collected from General Hospital of Tibetan Military Region, No 8 Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), No 115 Hospital of PLA and No 41 Hospital of PLA during the 20 days period after the earthquake
Patients’ records were collected when they met the criteria as follows: (1) the causes of injury or illness were related to participation in Shigatse disaster relief following the ‘4.25’ Nepal earthquake; (2) injuries caused by aftershocks during the process of disaster relief; (3) diagnosis based on clinical features, laboratory examination and/or digital radiography (DR) or multi-layer spiral computed tomography (CT) findings and (4) no history of surgery or treatment prior to visiting the clinic
Summary
This study aimed to analyse the injuries sustained by rescue workers in earthquake relief efforts in high altitude areas for improving the ways of how to effectively prevent the injuries. Shigatse is located in the southwestern Qinghai-Tibet plateau of China at an average elevation of more than 4000 m (high altitude) with a large diurnal temperature variation, less oxygen levels and strong ultraviolet radiation in the daytime [1, 2]. Almost at the same time of earthquake, Tibetan medical institutions at all levels rushed emergency medical teams to the earthquake relief front where several field ambulatory hospitals were constructed to provide first line of medical support. From the patient records at these medical institutions, the disaster relief workers were accounted for a large proportion
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