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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: To compare injury patterns of different types of explosions.
METHODS: A retrospective study of 4,508 patients hospitalized due to explosions recorded in the Israeli National Trauma Registry between January 1997 and December 2018. The events were divided into four groups: terror-related, war-related, civilian intentional and civilian unintentional explosions. The groups were compared in terms of injuries sustained, utilization of hospital resources and clinical outcomes.
RESULTS: Civilian intentional and terror-related explosions were found to be similar in most aspects except for factors directly influencing mortality and a larger volume of severely injured body regions among terror-victims. Comparisons between other groups produced some parallels, albeit less consistent. Civilian intentional and civilian unintentional explosions were different from each other in most aspects. The latter group also differed from others by its high volume of life-threatening burns and a higher proportion of children casualties.
CONCLUSIONS: While consistent similarities between explosion casualties exist, especially between victims of intentional civilian and terror-related explosions, the general rule is that clinical experience with on type of explosions cannot be directly transferred to other types.
Language: en |