TY - JOUR PY - 2021// TI - Fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: a hospital-based retrospective descriptive cohort study assessing correlates of adult mortality JO - BMC emergency medicine A1 - Budema, Paul Munguakonkwa A1 - Murhega, Roméo Bujiriri A1 - Tshimbombu, Tshibambe Nathanael A1 - Toha, Georges Kuyigwa A1 - Cikomola, Fabrice Gulimwentuga A1 - Mudekereza, Paterne Safari A1 - Mubenga, Léon-Emmanuel A1 - Maheshe-Balemba, Ghislain A1 - Badesire, Darck Cubaka A1 - Kanmounye, Ulrick Sidney SP - e116 EP - e116 VL - 21 IS - 1 N2 - INTRODUCTION: The Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been the battleground for multiple armed conflicts, resulting in many fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries (F&NFFIs). Chronic insecurity has stressed the health system's resources and created barriers to seeking, reaching, and receiving timely care further increasing the F&NFFI burden. Our institution is the largest trauma center in the region and receives the bulk of F&NFFI cases. We aimed to identify correlates of mortality in Congolese F&NFFI patients.

METHODS: We included all F&NFFI patients admitted to our institution between 2017 and 2020. We extracted data from patient charts and admission logs. We identified mortality correlates using the two-sample t-test, Chi-square test, and multivariable regression analysis. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: This study included 814 adult patients, mostly male (86%) with an average age of 34.5 years and living 154.4 km away from the hospital on average. The most affected anatomical sites were the lower limbs (48.2%) and upper limbs (23.2%). The median length of stay was 34.0 days, and the in-hospital mortality rate was 3.6%. In addition, mortality was negatively correlated with diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.01), SaO(2) (P < 0.001), and hemoglobin concentration (P = 0.002).

CONCLUSION: F&NFFIs cause an enormous burden in the region, and mortality is correlated with some clinical and biological variables. Thus, the study findings will inform F&NFFI referral, triage, and management in low-resource and mass casualty settings.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1471-227X UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12873-021-00506-3 ID - ref1 ER -