Patterns of on-scene and healthcare system trauma deaths in the Western Cape of South Africa

Abstract

Background: Injuries account for 8% or 4.4 million deaths annually worldwide, with 90% of injury deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Inter-personal violence and road traffic injuries account for most injury deaths in South Africa, with rates among the highest globally. Understanding the location, timing, and factors of trauma deaths can identify opportunities to strengthen care. Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional secondary analysis of trauma deaths from 2021 to 2022 in the Western Cape of South Africa. Healthcare system trauma deaths were identified from a multicenter study paired with a dataset for on-scene (i.e., prior to ambulance or hospital) trauma deaths in the same jurisdictions. We describe locations, timing, injury factors, and cause of death. We assess associations between those factors. Results: There were 2418 deaths, predominantly young men, with most (2274, 94.0%) occurring on-scene. The most frequent mechanism of injury for all deaths was firearms (32.6%), followed by road traffic collisions (17.8%). On-scene deaths (33.2%) were significantly more likely to be injured by firearms compared to healthcare system deaths (23.6%) (p-value <0.01). Most healthcare system deaths within 4–24 h of injury occurred in a hospital emergency center. Among healthcare system decedents, half died in the emergency unit. Conclusions: We identified a large burden of deaths from interpersonal violence and road traffic collisions, mostly on-scene. In addition to primary prevention, shortening delays to care can improve mortality outcomes especially for deaths occurring within 4–24 h in emergency centers.