[2021 Community-based Severe Trauma Incidence Status]

The community-based severe trauma investigation system aims to identify the epidemiological characteristics of severe injuries, multiple accidents, emergency medical responses, and treatment outcomes. With a pilot survey in 2016, it has been approved and conducted as a national statistic since 2019 to produce regional injury-related statistics and establish a national injury prevention and monitoring system in the community. The survey was conducted on patients with severe trauma, non-traumatic severe injury, and multiple casualties transferred by 119 paramedics; of these, 8,052 patients had severe trauma in 2021, more than twice as many male (5,844) as female (2,208). The median age of the patients with severe trauma was 57 years, accounting for 65.0% of the group aged 15 to 64 years. In terms of the incidence rates by province, Jeonnam had the highest rate at 32.1 per 100,000, whereas Seoul had the lowest rate at 8.5 per 100,000. Regarding the mechanisms of injury, transportation accidents accounted for the highest proportion at 52.1% in 2021, followed by falls and slips at 40.5%. The fatality rate (deaths) was 56.6% in 2021, showing a decrease from 65.5% in 2015 to 52.2% in 2019 before increasing again in 2020. The rate of severe disabilities showed a decreasing trend at 26.0% in 2021, but began to increase from 2019 onwards. The disability rate is 67.2%, marking an increase of 4.4 percentage points compared to the previous year. The community-based severe trauma registry can provide evidence-based data for use as foundational information in formulating community injury prevention strategies.