Introduction: Trauma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in both developed and developing countries. The usual causes are road traffic accidents (RTAs), fall from height, occupational injuries, and assault. According to the World Health Organization report on road safety, RTAs would be the fifth leading cause of death worldwide by the year 2030.1 Occupational injuries leading to disability are also of major concern in a country like India as many industries continue to be unregulated. The majority of trauma deaths occur in the prehospital periods due to insufficient prehospital care where the first 60 min after trauma has been considered as the “golden hour” of trauma.2 It is therefore important to quickly assess the severity of the injury accurately and quickly. This study was done to improve the understanding of the mode of trauma, severity of injuries, and outcome in our hospital so that effective prevention and comprehensive management strategies could be made. We also studied the accuracy of physiologic variables such as respiratory rate, Glasgow coma score (GCS), and systolic blood pressure which are used in the revised trauma score (RTS) in predicting mortality.

Keywords: Accidents; Emergency department; Polytrauma; Head injury; Road traffic accidents (RTA).