G. Månum et al.
traumas without central nervous involvement (n = 4) or
multiple traumas with traumatic brain injury or spinal
cord injury (n = 5).
Table I presents sociodemographic and injury cha-
racteristics. Nineteen participants were female. At the
time of assessment, the median age was 23 years. The
age range was 19–71 years, and only 5 individuals
were older than 30 years. Twenty-one persons lived
by themselves, and 9 with their parents. All but 5 par-
ticipants were engaged in work or education between
50% and full-time.
As shown in Table I, the primary mechanisms of
trauma were gunshots and explosion forces. Eighteen
participants were initially classified as having a severe
injury with NISS-scores above 15. The number of
days in the ICU and the number of surgical procedures
reflect large variation in both injury severity and com-
plications. Three participants did not undergo surgery,
and 5 had 10 or more procedures, with 22 surgeries
at the most. The physical injuries were heterogeneous
and ranged from contusions to multiple life-threatening
internal organ and central nervous system injuries. As
shown in Fig. 2, there were injuries in all body regions,
and as many as 23 sustained injuries to more than 1
body region. A total of 15 participants sustained their
principal injury to their head, neck, spinal cord, thorax
or abdomen; according to the AIS scores shown in
Fig. 2, these subjects suffered life-threatening injuries.
Four of the participants had brain injuries verified by
Table I. Socio-demographics, injury severity and acute hospital
care of the participants
n
Sociodemographics
Age, years
Sex (female)
Education, years
Marital status 19
Single/divorced 17
Married/cohabitants or in a relationship 13
Median [Q1, Q3] Range
23 [21.0, 26.8]
Amount of work/schooling
100%
23
At least 50% 2
Not occupied 5
Injury severity and acute hospital care
Cause of injury
Explosion
Gunfire
Other a
Injury severity
New Injury Severity Scale (NISS)
7
19
4
1–59
15 [15, 15] 5–15
4
NISS=9–15
NISS=16–75
Glasgow Coma Scale (GSC)
Acute hospital care
24.5 [5.0, 37.3]
8
NISS=0–8
18
Number of days in ICU b
Number of surgical procedures
2.5 [0.0, 15.3]
3 [1.0, 6.8]
0–59
0–22
a
Three injuries due to falls and a limb luxation.
Intensive care unit.
b
computed tomography (CT) scans. Two of these had
GCS scores of 5 and 8, respectively, indicating severe
brain injury. Several participants had gunshot injuries
to internal organs (kidney, heart, lung, and gastroin-
Fig. 2. Body region of most severe injury and distribution of additional injuries according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS).
www.medicaljournals.se/jrm
19–71
13.5 [13.0, 15.3] 11–19
228