Factors associated with mortality in thoracic trauma patients in Cameroon.

Background: Thoracic trauma is the third most common cause of death after abdominal injury and head trauma in polytrauma patients. The identification of a patient at risk of thoracic trauma mortality is necessary to avoid delays that may lead to morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the objective was to assess the factors associated with mortality among thoracic trauma patients in Cameroon.
Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of the Cameroon Trauma Registry currently running in 10 pilot hospital sites across seven of the ten regions. We retrieved data for all patients with thoracic trauma between the period June 2022 to May 2023 and analyzed factors associated to mortality using multivariate logistic regression. Statistical significance was set at p-value <0.05.
Results: Out of 4851 trauma patients, 642 (13.2 %) presented with thoracic trauma. Over 80 % were males and the majority [168 (26.2 %)] were within the age group of 25-34 years. The most common injury mechanism was Road Traffic Injury (RTI). Overall thoracic trauma mortality rate was 9 % with road traffic Injury being the commonest mechanism. Factors associated to thoracic trauma mortality were abnormal chest movement and respiration [(AOR = 5.18, 95 % CI = 1.89-14.19, P = 0.001) and (AOR = 4.72, 95 % CI = 1.44-15.42, P = 0.01) respectively]. Tracheal deviation, breath sounds and respiration were other factors associated with mortality.
Conclusion: This analysis highlights thoracic trauma in Cameroon and its contribution to the overall injury death toll. Abnormal chest movement and respiration were factors associated with mortality among thoracic trauma patients. To improve the health outcomes, it is important to understand the treatment logic, involve thoracic surgeons and a multidisciplinary team to improve diagnosis and management.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence this research.
(© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)