Pattern and In-Hospital Mortality of Thoracoabdominal Injuries Associated with Motor Vehicle Accident-Related Spinal Injury: A Retrospective Single-Center Study

BACKGROUND: Motor vehicle accident (MVA) is a global health hazard that results in spinal, thoracic, and abdominal injuries. Detailed studies on the association between MVA-related traumatic spinal injury (TSI) and thoracoabdominal injuries are lacking. This study aims to elucidate the prevalence, pattern of association between these injuries, and related outcomes in terms of in-hospital mortality. METHODS: This is a retrospective single-center study of MVA-related TSI with thoracoabdominal associated injuries. Descriptive analysis was performed for gender, age, spinal injury level, thoracoabdominal injury region, admission day, hospital stay duration, and discharge category. The association between TSI and thoracoabdominal injury was analyzed, and the chi-square test was used to test the significance of differences. A statistically significant difference was considered at P values less than 0.05. RESULTS: The cohort had a mean age of 33.6 ± 17.7 years with predominantly more males (85.1%). Thoracoabdominal injuries were present in 10.5% of MVA-related TSIs, and 9.2% of victims died during their hospital stay. There is a significant (P=0.045) association between the level of the spinal and the region of thoracoabdominal injuries. The presence of TSI-associated thoracic injury significantly (P=0.041) correlated with increased in-hospital mortality more than abdominal injury. CONCLUSION: Thoracoabdominal injuries concomitant with MVA-related TSI cause considerable mortality. A pattern of association exists between the level of spinal and region of thoracoabdominal injury. Knowledge of this pattern is helpful in the routine practice of trauma health partitioners.