1. Undeclared civil war? Urban violence in major city in Brazil.
- Author
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Romeo ACDCB, Cardoso PLP, Correia-Jr GB, Joaquim-de-Carvalho MEA, Santos FM, Serafim DF, Dos Reis-Junior GS, and Cunha AG
- Subjects
- Adult, Brazil epidemiology, Female, Hospital Mortality, Humans, Injury Severity Score, Length of Stay, Male, Middle Aged, Retrospective Studies, Wounds, Gunshot mortality, Young Adult, Crime Victims statistics & numerical data, Trauma Centers statistics & numerical data, Violence statistics & numerical data
- Abstract
Purpose: Civil violence is responsible for 2.5% of deaths worldwide; it killed more people in the 21st century than the sum of all wars. This study describes violence victims treated at a trauma reference hospital in Salvador, Brazil and analyzes the impact of different types of interpersonal violence., Methods: Interpersonal violence victims admitted between July 2015 and July 2017 were included. The 1,296 patients (mean age: 30.3 years; 90% male) were divided into three groups according to the mechanism of interpersonal violence: 1) beating, 2) firearm injury and 3) stab wound (STW) injury. The groups were compared for the following variables: age, gender, trauma mechanism, Revised Trauma Score (RTS) at admission, need for intensive care unit (ICU) attention, length of hospital stay, need for transfusion of blood products and death., Results: Gunshot wounds (GSW) were the primary mechanism of injury (59%), followed by beating (24%) and STW (17%). Gunshot wound victims had a lower mean RTS upon admission, increased need for blood products and more Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admissions. Beating victims had the longest mean hospital stay (11.6 ± 19.6 days). The GSW group accounted for 77.4% of all deaths. The in-hospital mortality rate was significantly higher in the GSW group (12.7%) than in the beating group (5.4%) and in the STW group (4.9%)., Conclusions: Gunshot wound victims are more critical: they require longer ICU stays, more transfusions of blood products and exhibit increased mortality compared with STW and beating victims.
- Published
- 2020
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