Журнал травм и лечения

The Conundrum of Polytrauma in Sokoto, North-West Nigeria

Abstract

Oboirien M, Ukwuani S and Agbo SP

Introduction: The Management of Polytrauma remains a challenge in regions of sub-Saharan Africa. We sought to document our experiences with Polytrauma management in a resource poor setting. Methods: It was a retrospective review of cases of Polytrauma managed at a regional trauma centre in Northwest Nigeria from January 2014 to December 2014. Trauma records of patients were retrieved and collated. Statistical analysis was done with SPSS 21. Results: A total of 84 patients were seen with a mean age of 29.34 ± 14.82. There were 78 males and 6 females giving a male to female ratio of 13:1. Road traffic accidents were the commonest mechanism in 66 (78.6%) patients while assault 6 (7.1%), fall from height 6 (7.1%), collapsed building 4 (4.8%) were observed. Forty-two percent of patients arrived at our facility 24 hrs after the trauma while 10.7% arrived within an hour and 28.6% arrived after 6 hours. Head and extremity injuries were the commonly encountered with 71% and 65% respectively. The common injury combination observed were head\extremity 39%, head\facial 27.4%, head\extremity\facial 27.4%, and head\ chest 11.9%. Mortality was 9.5% and those with major and minor disability were 9.5% and 7.1% respectively. Duration of more than 1 hour of arrival at facility was statistically significant on mortality, while age, mechanism of injury, distance from health facility was not statistically significant on mortality. Conclusion: Measures aimed at improving road safety would help to reduce the incidence of Polytrauma. Efficient Pre-hospital care would ensure prompt arrival at designated health facilities.