Prehospital deaths in the Yorkshire Health Region

To estimate the proportion of prehospital deaths in a British population of trauma victims which may be preventable, and to investigate the effect of death at the scene and death in transit on potential survivorship.

Blinded review, by four specialists with an interest in trauma, of necropsy results and details of age, sex, and mechanism of injury for prehospital trauma deaths in the Yorkshire Health Region in a 12 month period.

Complete records were traced on 305 of 337 trauma deaths, 190 being recorded as dead on arrival of emergency services and 115 dead on arrival at hospital. In the group declared dead at the scene, three of the four assessors considered 93% of deaths to have been inevitable and only 2% as potential survivors (25% of this group sustaining inevitably fatal injuries such as brain avulsion or decapitation). In the group dead on arrival 81% were felt to be inevitable deaths and 5% potential survivors.

There seems to be less scope for salvage of victims of trauma death in a British population than has been recorded in America, possibly due to a higher proportion of blunt trauma deaths here. Those who die in transit consist of a less severely injured group with a higher potential for survival.