The Pattern of Abdominal Trauma as Seen at Muhimbili National Hospital Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Background: Abdominal trauma is among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in all age groups in the world. However, identifying serious intra-abdominal pathology due to trauma can be a challenge. Mechanisms of injury often result in other associated injuries that may divert the physician's attention from potentially life-threatening intra-abdominal pathology. So this study aimed at showing the pattern of abdominal trauma at our hospital.
Methods: We recruited patients presenting at the EMD with abdominal injury and used a structured questionnaire to collect patient information.
Results: A total of 92 patients with abdominal trauma were surgically managed with male to female ratio of 7.4:1. The age range was 7 to 55years with a mean of 29.43. The majority (67.4%) of the patients were aged between 21 -40 years. Petty traders made up 42.3% of all cases. Motor Traffic Injuries accounted for 55.4%, with blunt trauma contributing 65.3% of the study population. Substance abuse was also reported in a number of cases. The overall mortality of 7.6% was observed.
Conclusion: Most causes of abdominal trauma were preventable, with substance abuse having influence. Non therapeutic laparotomy was high probably due to deficiencies in investigation modalities in our set up.