Disease Or Risk Factors In Traumatic Injury

Disease Or Risk Factors In Traumatic Injury

A different approach to this patient group is to view traumatic injuries as a disease, like heart disease, with many potential risk factor . For example, the initial medical workup of a patient who has had a heart attack generally includes several questions related to family history of heart disease, nicotine use, co-morbidity, diet, and level of activity. These questions are asked to clarify the clinical picture and to help the patient understand the underlying cause of his or her condition and the required treatments—and to prevent further illness. A different approach to this patient group is to view traumatic injuries as a disease, like heart disease, with many potential risk factors. Such educational and preventive efforts rarely take place with hospitalized trauma patients whose injuries are related to alcohol and other drug use. However, when injury is viewed as a disease, clinicians are more likely to address underlying risk factors, such as a family history of AOD use, episodes of heavy drinking, and other areas of unsafe behavior such as the failure to use seatbelts.

From the disease perspective, many interacting risk factors contribute to the occurrence of a traumatic event such as a motor vehicle crash. A poorly lit road with dangerous curves increases the risk of a vehicle crash. Add to that icy conditions and an adolescent short on driving experience, attention, and concentration but long on risk-taking behavior, and the risk of a crash increases greatly. Add alcohol consumption to this mix, and from this perspective, the situation appears to be one that almost certainly will end in a crash. When injury is viewed as a disease, clinicians are more likely to address underlying risk factors, such as a family history of AOD use, episodes of heavy drinking, and other areas of unsafe behavior such as the failure to use seatbelts. factors other than AOD use that increase the risk of traumatic injury can be classified into four areas: physical, environmental, socioeconomic, and personality/psychological factors. several factors often interact to contribute to a traumatic injury. Reducing the level of any single factor, such as improving the lighting and paving of roads, can greatly reduce resulting injuries.

Physical factors. Physical factors are those related to the individual person, such as age, gender, and physical health. Younger persons, especially males, are at increased risk of injury because they are generally more active than older persons. Elderly people with poor vision, weak lower extremities, and impaired or decreased balance are at greater risk of falling; because of progressive bone loss they may also sustain severe injuries as the result of relatively low-impact forces.

Environmental factors. Environmental factors increase the risk of traumatic injury. Certain States have passed legislation to reduce speed limits, increase the legal drinking age, and make helmets mandatory for motorcyclists and bicyclists, thereby greatly reducing people's risk of injury. Environmental factors can also relate to an individual's access to guns and use of cars or alcohol and other drugs, as well as to the safety of the person's location, such as his or her living near a body of water or in a high-rise building.

Socioeconomic factors. Socioeconomic factors such as being employed in a high-risk job or living in a high-crime neighborhood or in a poorly maintained building with few safety features also contribute to the risk of traumatic injury. Driving old or poorly maintained cars also increases the risk. Other socioeconomic factors are related to the breakdown of families that is often associated with poverty. Young people may join gangs to replace the family bonds, and enter a culture where violence is promoted and accepted as a routine of daily life.

Personality/psychological factors. Risk taking, antisocial behaviors, and mental illness contribute to risk. Persons who have depression are at increased risk of suicide, and those with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders may lack the judgment to remove themselves from dangerous situations.

 

DR FIRAS ALKURDI
EMTM, MBBS.