Injury Severity and Causes of Death from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom: 2003-2004 Versus 2006.

摘要

The opinion that injuries sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan have increased in severity is widely held by clinicians who have deployed multiple times. To continuously improve combat casualty care, the Department of Defense has enacted numerous evidence-based policies and clinical practice guidelines. The authors hypothesized that the severity of wounds has increased over time. In this study, they examined cause of death looking for opportunities to improve clinical research and training for the battlefield. Autopsies of the earliest combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and the latest deaths in 2006 were analyzed to assess changes in injury severity and causes of death. Fatalities were classified as nonsurvivable (NS) or potentially survivable (PS). PS deaths were then reviewed in depth to analyze mechanism and cause.