Trauma burden in Tanzania: a one-day survey of all district and regional public hospitals

BACKGROUND Trauma contributes significantly to the burden of disease and mortality throughout the world, but particularly in developing countries. In Tanzania, there is an enormous research gap on trauma; the limited data available reflects realities in cities and areas with moderately- to highly-resourced treatment centers. Our aim was to provide a description of the injury epidemiology across all of Tanzania. Our data will serve as a basis for future larger studies. METHODS This is a subgroup analysis of a cross-sectional, prospective study of the clinical epidemiology of patients presenting at all public district and regional hospitals in Tanzania. The study was conducted between May 2012 and December 2012. A team of emergency doctors used a purpose-designed data collection sheet to gather the demographic and clinical information of all patients presenting during the day-site visit to each hospital. Descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviations, medians, and ranges are reported. RESULTS A total of 5227 patients were seen in 24-h period in 105 (100% response rate) district (or designated district) and regional hospitals in mainland Tanzania. Of these patients, 508 (9.7%) presented with trauma-related complaints. Among patients with trauma-related complaints, 286 (56.3%) were male, and the overall median age of 30 (interquartile range of 22-35) years. Road traffic crash was the most common mechanism of injury, accounting for 227 (44.7%) complaints. Open wounds and bone fractures were the two most frequent diagnoses, with a combined 300 (59%) cases. Most of the patients - 325 (64%) - were discharged, 11 (2.2%) went to operating theatres and 4 (0.8%) of patients died while receiving care at the acute intake areas. CONCLUSIONS Trauma-related complaints constitute a substantial burden among patients seeking care in acute intake areas of hospitals across Tanzania. There is a need to develop, implement and study systems that can support the improvement of trauma care and optimize outcomes of trauma patients.