Trauma epidemiology and outcome in a developing country: perspectives from a university teaching hospital in Beirut

This study aims at evaluating trauma care at the American University of Beirut Medical Centre (AUB-MC) and comparing it to the norms established by the Major Trauma Outcome Study (MTOS). From January 2001 until January 2003, data necessary to calculate probability of survival using the Trauma Injury Severity Score methodology were collected. M, W, Z, Ws and Zs statistics were calculated to compare outcome at AUB-MC to the MTOS dataset. A total of 873 patients were included in the study. W statistics was calculated at 0.35 with Z score for the overall sample of 0.081 indicating that there was no statistically significant difference in survival between this group and the MTOS group. In a developing country a hospital achieves trauma outcomes similar to the MTOS dataset. Further studies looking at trauma care in Lebanon as a whole are needed.