Injury Epidemiology after 7.8 Richter Gorkha Earthquake in Nepal: A Retrospective Study of Injuries Treated at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Earthquakes are one of the most catastrophic natural disasters that occur without prewarning, Nepal experienced a massive earthquake of 7.8 Richter scale on 25th April 2015.It claimed 8,962 lives across several districts in Nepal with 22,302 injuries. After the earthquake, hospitals are confronted with large number of disaster trauma victims making it challenging for management of such mass casualty. Despite such crisis Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) provided all possible services round the clock to all disaster victims brought to hospital from very first hour after the earthquake.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of management of the injured patients admitted in TUTH after the Gorkha earthquake. Patient’s details including demographic data, injuries sustained and treatment carried out was retrieved from medical record section of the hospital. Injury pattern were categorized broadly into orthopedics related and non-orthopedics injure. Frequency distribution of these data’s was calculated using Microsoft excel.

Results: Out of 1812 earthquake related injuries treated in hospital, 493 injured cases required admission. Their mean age was 35.84±21.84 years. Of them 153(31.6%) cases were from Kathmandu and 133 (27.0%) from Sindhupalchowk and Ramechhap.364 cases had single injury and 129 cases had multiple injuries, 81% of the injuries were orthopedic related and 19 % were non-orthopedic injury. Out of them 361(73.2%) cases required surgery, 119 (24.1%) were managed conservatively, 13(2.6%) died.

Conclusion: Earthquake is the most unpredictable catastrophic natural disaster. Limb fractures and soft tissue injuries are most common among the injury survivors. Knowing the nature and epidemiology of the injuries will help in effective management of available resources for benefit of maximum number of victims.