Death and preventable death in trauma patients in a level-1 trauma center in Thailand

Background: Trauma is a major cause of death in young adults. The mortality rate is one of the key performance indices of trauma centers. Objective: To demonstrate a mortality rate, cause of death, and cause of nonpreventable death in a level-1 trauma center in Thailand. Methods: There was a retrospective study of the death cases from a trauma registry. The number of trauma deaths during the study period was collected to identify the death rate. The causes of death and a death analysis were obtained from the morbidity and mortality. Results: The death rate was 6.6%. The most common cause of overall death was head injury, and exsanguination was the most common cause of death in the first 24 h. The preventable death rate was 2%, and the most common cause of preventable death was exsanguination. Conclusions: The mortality rate of trauma patients in Thailand was not higher than that in other countries. The majority of deaths were caused from head injury. Therefore, improvement in injury prevention is needed to decrease the number of deaths.