Evaluation of Factors Related to Mortality Caused by Firearm Injury: A Retrospective Analysis from Malatya, Turkey

Abstract

Background: Firearm related injuries continue to increase throughout the world and they become the first or second cause of mortality in worldwide. The present study aimed to determine the factors that affect mortality in firearm injuries.

Methods: The patients which were admitted to emergency service between January 2011 and December 2015 due to firearm injuries, were reviewed from hospital records. The patients were evaluated in terms of their age, sex, event time, admission time, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Injury Severity Score (ISS), the reason of event, type of weapon, the region of the body that injured, department in which they were hospitalized, hospitalization duration and the relation between these parameters and mortality.

Results: A total of 174 patients (86.8% male, 13.2% female) were identified. The mean age of patients was 35.2 years and 30 patients (17.2%) died. Among the cases, 137 were attempted homicide (78.7%), 23 were accidents and the remaining 14 were suicides. The suicidal cases had significantly higher mortality rate than other causes (P = 0.003). The most frequently used weapon was pistols (73.6%) and the events took place between 18.00 and 24.00 (36.2%) hours mainly. The injuries were mostly on extremities, however many of deaths were seen after head-neck injuries and the mortality rate of head and neck injuries was significantly higher than other regions (P < 0.001). The mean of hospitalization duration was 9.1 days and it was 10.2 +/- 11.7 days for survivors, 4 +/- 7.3 days for died subjects. The hospitalization duration of died patients was significantly shorter than survivors (P = 0.042). The GCS of died patients (4.4 +/- 1.7) was significantly lower than those of survivors (13.3 +/- 2.8) (P < 0.001). The ISS score of died patients (49.7 +/- 24.1) was significantly higher than those of survivors (13.6 +/- 10.6) (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: It was determined that GCS, ISS, length of hospitalization, injuries due to suicide attempt, the department of hospitalization, injuries to head-neck regions affected mortality significantly.