Severe trauma fatality rate dropped while disability rate rose over 8 years: KDCA

The fatality rate of severe trauma patients in Korea decreased from 61 percent to 55 percent, but the disability rate of severe trauma patients increased from 63 percent to 74 percent over the past eight years.

That was part of the “2023 Community-Based Severe Trauma Survey Statistics” released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on Wednesday.

According to the statistics, there were 8,192 severe trauma patients in 2023, with more men (72 percent) than women (28 percent), and the largest number of patients by age were in their 60s (1,863, 22.7 percent).

The mortality rate for severe trauma patients was 54.7 percent (4,485), a slight decrease from 56.3 percent the previous year, marking an overall downward trend compared to 60.5 percent in 2016. Of the survivors, 73.8 percent were disabled, and 28.8 percent were severely disabled.

The disability rate for severe trauma patients increased from 62.8 percent in 2016 to 73.8 percent in 2023, and the severe disability rate increased to 28.8 percent in 2023 after a downward trend through 2022. The reasons for the significant increase in disability and severe disability rates in 2023 require additional analyses, the report said.

Severe traumatic injuries were mainly caused by transportation accidents (49.1 percent) and falls and slips (43.8 percent). The proportion of traffic accidents declined from 59.6 percent in 2016 to 49.1 percent in 2023, while falls and slips increased from 33.5 percent to 43.8 percent over the same period.

While transportation accidents are on the decline, recent societal changes have increased the use of personal mobility devices, leading to an increase in the number of injuries.

In terms of the actual incidence of severe trauma by type of transportation accident, the number of severe trauma patients due to transportation accidents, such as pedestrian and vehicle accidents, all decreased, while the number of severe trauma patients due to other types of transportation accidents, including personal mobility devices, nearly tripled from 34 (0.7 percent) in 2016 to 103 (2.6 percent) in 2023.

According to the KDCA, 75 percent of patients who visited the emergency room after an accident while using a personal mobility device were not wearing a helmet, indicating an urgent need to raise awareness of safe use.

The agency said it is developing a safe use guideline to prevent damage caused by the frequent use of personal mobility devices, which will be disseminated in the first half of this year.

“Although there have been positive changes, such as a decrease in the fatality rate of severe trauma, severe trauma can cause lifelong disability even if survived, causing great losses not only to individuals but also to society,” KDCA Commission Jee Young-mee said.

As national-level management, such as transportation and emergency response system improvement, must be accompanied by individual awareness, the KDCA will continue actively preparing policies and systems for damage prevention with related departments, including central and local government agencies, and develop preventive measures, Jee added.