EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY OF INJURIES IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF GEORGIA.

Injuries represent a significant burden on societies, resulting in deaths and health care costs incurred during Emergency Department visits and hospitalizations. This research aimed to estimate the burden of traumatic injury of patients treated and evaluated in the Emergency Department of the University Hospital in Georgia. A retrospective study was conducted at the University Hospital of Georgia for all trauma patients from January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018. Visits were identified from existing electronic medical records, using the iCREATE Registry as a model. Data collected included patient demographics, injury characteristics, and injury costs. To estimate the direct costs of trauma treatment, data were obtained from the cost accounting database. A total of 2445 injured patients aged 0 to 91 years were medically examined during the study period and about 65% of them were male. Most of the injured patients were school-age children (31%). The leading mechanism of injury in the Emergency Departments were falls (45%). Most of the patients (78%) suffered from moderate injuries and needed only outpatient treatment. The total direct costs for all patients were $248 628. Fall-related injury costs accounted for most direct medical costs (51%), followed by road traffic crashes related costs (23%). Road traffic injured patients had the highest total mean costs ($269). Injuries result in a substantial number of Emergency Department visits and significant medical costs in Georgia. Understanding the characteristics of these injuries is essential for targeting injury prevention.

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES IN CHILDREN IN PRACTICE OF PEDIATRIC HOSPITAL IN GEORGIA.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and permanent disability in children and adolescents. Study of TBI with reliable and high-quality data represents the basis for effective strategies for injury prevention. The database of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia for 2018 was studied to identify TBI cases treated at the largest children's hospital in Georgia. Cases were included based on the S06 diagnosis coded of ICD-10. Descriptive statistics were used to describe traumatic brain injuries. М. Iashvili Childrens'hospital treated 296 pediatric brain injuries in 2018. TBIs were more common in boys (n=180, 61,1%) than in girls (n=116, 38,9%), and patients aged 10 -14 were most frequent. 8 (4,4%) of male patients and 2 (1,7%) of female patients required more than 15 days of in-patient treatment. More than two thirds of children had suffered TBI due to falling 198 (66.6%), followed by road traffic injuries 56 (18.9%) and other type of blunt force 42 (14.2%). 54.3% of all TBI patients required at least one day of hospital stay. Most of the TBI patients 220 (74,3%) were brought to the hospital by private transportation. In-patient treatment was completed in 293 (98.9%) of cases, three (1%) male patients died. In all three cases of lethal outcome, the cause of injury wasroad traffic. Based on existing data, it was possible to study just part of TBI epidemiological properties. TBI national reporting formats do not cover information about location and time of injuries, place of occurrence, therapeutical treatment and severity of the illness. To study the full epidemiological picture of TBI, retrospective studies based on the medical history in hospitals are needed.