PURPOSETrauma is an inevitable part of the health burden in every country. Both the preventive and rehabilitative aspects of traumatic injuries are expensive. Since most of the injuries happen in low- and middle-income developing countries, a judicious allocation of the limited resources to the most costefficient strategies is necessary. The present study was designed to report the causes of trauma, injured body regions, trauma severity scores and the one year survival rate of a randomly selected sample of trauma patients in a major referral hospital in Tehran, Iran.

METHODSWe chose and analyzed a random subgroup of traumatic patients admitted during the oneyear period of May 2012 to May 2013 to Shariati Hospital, a major University Teaching Hospital in Tehran, Iran. Patients who stayed at the hospital for less than 24 h were excluded. In total, 73 traumatic patients were registered. The mean age was (40.19 ± 20.34) years and 67.1% of them were male.

RESULTSIn general, the most common cause of injury was falls (47.9%), followed by road traffic crashes (RTCs, 40.8%). Assault and exposure to inanimate mechanical forces each were only associated with 5.6% of all injuries. The only cause of injury in ages of more than 65 years was fall. The most common cause of injury in ages between 15 and 45 years was RTCs. During the study, two deaths occurred: one was at ICU and the other was at home. The most commonly injured body region was the head (23.8%), followed by the elbow and forearm (19%), hip and thigh (15.9%), and multiple body regions (14.3%). The mean abbreviated injury score was 2.23 ± 1.02; injury severity index was 7.26 ± 7.06; and revised trauma score was 7.84, calculated for 38 patients.

CONCLUSIONPrevention strategy of traumatic injury should focus on falls and RTCs, which are respectively the most common cause of trauma in older aged people and young males.