Beirut Blast work Published
We would like to congratulate Dr Samar Al-Hajj and colleagues for the publication of their article titled “The Beirut Ammonium Nitrate Blast: A Multi-centre Study to Assess Injury Characteristics and Outcomes” in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery.
The August 4th Beirut blast was one of the largest non-nuclear chemical explosions in modern history, causing hundreds of injuries and deaths and devastating the city infrastructure. This multi-centre cross-sectional study assessed the blast’s injury characteristics and outcomes and examine severe injury predictors.
Evidence from this study offers insights into the mechanisms and outcomes of injuries sustained by victims in the aftermath of the Beirut Blast and examines the predictors of injury severity in Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI) that can be adopted to manage disasters and effectively implement injury prevention strategies.
Article Highlights:
Data were collected from 791 trauma patients’ records presented at five major hospitals in metropolitan Beirut.
Nearly 25% of the patients were admitted to the hospital, 4.6% required ICU, 2.7% died, and 3.4% reported neurologic disability at discharge.
Most injuries affected the head/face (26.4%) and occurred due to a struck-by an object (37%).
Predictors of serious injuries were associated with 1) sustaining multiple injuries including fractures, 2) primary injuries (i.e., blast lungs and eye injuries), and 3) secondary blast injuries (i.e., amputations and penetrating injuries).
