Abstract
Background: Ullevål University Hospital is a level I trauma center, servicing approximately half of Norway's population. During the years 2001 to 2006, the number of trauma patients has increased 30 %, from 835 to 1089 per year. The present paper aimed to explore the reasons behind this increase.
Material and methods: Analysis of trauma patients included in the Ullevål University Hospital Trauma Registry in 2001-2006. Data points like age, sex, geographical place of trauma, type of injury, ISS score, and days of intensive care were used.
Results: The increase of the annual amount of trauma patients is a significant trend (P=0,01). The highest increase is in the group of patients injured outside Oslo and Akershus County, 69 %. This increase was mainly due to traffic accidents. One could also see a significant rise in amount of violence-related trauma, predominantly in Oslo. There was a rising demand on hospital resources, the total increase in days of intensive care of all trauma patients was 60 %.
Conclusions: The rising number of trauma patients is a clear trend, and leads to a significant increase in demands of hospital care, especially intensive care. This trend should be taken into consideration in future plans for the regional trauma system.