Factors influencing injury severity score regarding Thai military personnel injured in mass casualty incident April 10, 2010: lessons learned from armed conflict casualties: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Political conflicts in Bangkok, Thailand have caused mass casualties, especially the latest event April 10, 2010, in which many military personnel were injured. Most of them were transferred to Phramongkutklao Hospital, the largest military hospital in Thailand. The current study aimed to assess factors influencing Injury Severity Score (ISS) regarding Thai military personnel injured in the mass casualty incident (MCI) April 10, 2010. METHODS: A total of 728 injured soldiers transferred to Phramongkutklao Hospital were reviewed. Descriptive statistics was used to display characteristics of the injuries, relationship between mechanism of injury and injured body regions. Multiple logistic regressions were used to calculate the adjusted odds ratio (adjusted OR) of ISS comparing injured body region categories. RESULTS: In all, 153 subjects defined as major data category were enrolled in this study. Blast injury was the most common mechanism of injury (90.2%). These victims displayed 276 injured body regions. The most common injured body region was the extremities (48.5%). A total of 18 patients (11.7%) had an ISS revealing more than 16 points. Three victims who died were expected to die due to high Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS). However, one with high TRISS survived. Factors influencing ISS were age (p = 0.04), abdomen injury (adjusted OR = 29.9; 95% CI, 5.8-153.5; P < 0.01), head & neck injury (adjusted OR = 13.8; 95% CI, 2.4-80.4; P < 0.01) and chest injury (adjusted OR = 9.9; 95% CI, 2.1-47.3; P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Blast injury was the most common mechanism of injury among Thai military personnel injured in the MCI April 10, 2010. Age and injured body region such as head & neck, chest and abdomen significantly influenced ISS. These factors should be investigated for effective medical treatment and preparing protective equipment to prevent such injuries in the future.