Deliberate Self-harm in people aged 60 years and over: A Major Trauma Centre Experience

8^th International Conference on Surgery & Anesthesia

March 24-25, 2022 Webinar

Tomisin Omogbehin, Akinkunmi Odutola, Lilly Auguste, Oliver Harnby, Bisola Ajayi, Daren Lui

St George's Hospitals, UK

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Journal of Surgery

Abstract :

AIM To describe the demographics, patient characteristics, pattern of injuries and the management outcome of patients aged 60 and over, presenting as trauma call/code red following a deliberate self-harm (DSH). BACKGROUND Despite current high rate of death in older patient following a trauma, there is still a paucity in papers researching extensively into the characteristics of trauma patients presenting to trauma centres, with a focus on DSH METHODS This is a single centre retrospective study at a level one London major trauma centre in the UK. For inclusion, the trauma database was reviewed over 3 years (2018-2020), identifying Patients aged 60 and above presenting as trauma following a DSH. RESULTS DSH in patients aged 60 and over accounted for 12% of total DSH related trauma calls reported, with a male dominance of 73%. Majority of DSH in this group was following self-inflicted stab injury (46.7%) with 1 in 4 patients reported to have had a prior DSH. A trigger could not be identified in 53% of reported cases, Bereavement (13.3) and financial stress (10%) were the commonly identified ones. 66.7% had existing mental health illness and Depression was the most common illness (36.7%). The median length of inpatient stay was 8 days with 40% of these admissions requiring Intensive care for 4 days average. 44% of patient sustained injuries requiring some surgical interventions. Mortality for the period was 16.7% with 80% of mortalities surviving the first 48 hours of admission. CONCLUSION Our study revealed a high rate in mortality from DSH related trauma in older adult. Their contribution to hospital admission and ICU transfers cannot be neglected. Measures are needed to improve access to optimal mental health services among older adults.

Biography :

Dr Tomisin Omogbehin is working as a Specialty Registrar at Barts Health NHS Trust. He was working as a St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Research Fellow at St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust from February 2021.