Pattern of external injuries sustained during bomb blast attacks in Karachi, Pakistan from 2000 to 2007.

Objective: To evaluate patterns of external injury resulting from bomb blasts in Karachi, and compare the injury profile resulting from explosions in open versus semi-confined blast environments.
Methods: The retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted in Karachi and comprised relevant data from January 2000 to October 2007. Casualty medical records and medico-legal certificates of the victims presented to three large public-sector hospitals were evaluated using a self-designed proforma. SPSS 17 was used for statistical analysis.
Results: Of the 1146 victims, data of 481(42%) represented the final study sample. Of these, 306(63.6%) were injured in open spaces and 175(36.4%) in semi-confined spaces. Of the 896 recorded injuries, lacerations were encountered as external injury in 427(47.7%) cases, followed by penetrating wounds in 137(15.3%). Lower and upper extremities were injured in 348(38.8%) and 170(19%) victims respectively. Open and semi-confined blast environments produced specific injury pattern and profile (p<0.001).
Conclusions: External injuries sustained during bomb blast attacks in Karachi demonstrated specific injury patterns and profiles. Further studies are required to account for internal injuries and classification of injuries based on standardised scoring systems.