Citation

Arcos González P, Vargas Campos CA, Cernuda Martínez JA, Naves Gómez C, Villellas Aguilar I, Lea Castro B, Dorribo Masid M, Dominguez Sanchez E, Castro Delgado R. Disaster Med. Public Health Prep. 2023; 17: e342.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Publisher Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1017/dmp.2022.267

PMID

36855262

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiological profile of multiple casualty incidents (MCI) and contribute to the better understanding of their impacts in Northern Spain.

METHOD: Retrospective, population-based observational study of MCI between 2014 and 2020 in 5 autonomous communities (Aragón, Castilla y León, Galicia, the Basque Country and Principado de Asturias) that participated in the MCI Database of Northern Spain. Inclusion criteria was any incident with 4 or more patients needing ambulance mobilization. A total of 54 variables were collected. This study presents the most relevant results.

RESULTS: There were 253 MCI. Of these, 79.8% were road traffic accidents, 12.3% fires or explosions, 2.0% poisonings and 5.9% defined as others. Monthly average was 2.9 (SD = 0.35; EEM = 15.90), average of victims by MCI was 6.8 (CI95% 6.16 - 7.60). There were significantly (P < 0.05) more victims in 3 types of MCI (fires, poisonings, and others). We saw 37.7% of MCI involved 4 victims, 18.8% 5 victims, and 37.9% more than 5. Mean response time was 30.8 minutes (95% CI 28.6 - 33.1), longer in maritime incidents. A total of 67% (95% CI 64.5 - 69.5) of victims were mild.

CONCLUSIONS: Road traffic accidents are the most frequent MCI and minor injuries predominate. More than 50% of the MCI have 5 or fewer patients. Fires had significantly more mild patients and significantly more resources deployed. Maritime incidents had a significantly longer response time.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Retrospective Studies; emergency medical services; disasters; triage; Spain/epidemiology; *Ambulances; *Fires; multiple casualty incidents