| dc.description.abstract | Background: Chest trauma has a high mortality. Although many studies have attempted to determine the predictors of mortality in chest trauma patients, there has been no uniformity in their findings. This study aimed to determine the mortality rate as well as the predictors of in-hospital mortality amongst chest trauma patients at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Uganda.
Method: A prospective cohort study. Upon consent, 112 participants with chest trauma were consecutively recruited and followed up until their discharge. Data on demographics, cause and mechanism of injury, vital signs, laboratory results, management, complications and discharge status were collected. Analysis was with STATA software version 16. Bivariate and multivariate modified Poisson regression model were used to assess association between independent and dependent variables. Statistical significance was set at p ≤0.05.
Results: The mean age was 36.8 years (SD: 12.4). Ninety-one were male (81.3%) and 21 (18.7%) were female; Male: Female ratio was 4.3:1. Blunt chest trauma (n=96, 85%) and penetrating chest trauma 16 cases (14.3%). In-hospital mortality rate was 17%. The following variables were interrogated on multivariable analysis: Age, specific types of chest lesions, admission systolic blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, SpO2, Hemoglobin, serum potassium, serum sodium, presence of associated extra thoracic injuries, injury severity according to KTS, amount of crystalloid at resuscitation, and complication occurrence. Only multiple chest lesions IRR=3.70, (95% CI 1.31 – 10.44), admission pulse rate IRR= 5.25, (95% CI 2.02 – 13.66) and abnormal serum sodium IRR=25.90, (95% CI 8.91 – 75.23) were statistically significant predictors of in-hospital mortality in chest trauma patients.
Conclusion: In-hospital mortality amongst chest trauma patients at MNRH is high. Independent predictors of the in-hospital mortality amongst chest trauma admitted at MNRH are: admission pulse rate >=100bpm, abnormal levels of sodium, presence of multiple chest lesions. | en_US |
