Road crashes accounted for the largest number of trauma deaths among patients admitted to Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), during a five-year study, while burn injuries produced the highest mortality rate within any injury category examined.
Dr. Alexandra Harvey and Dr. Dwayne Kellman presented the findings Saturday during the Bethune Round Table at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
Their research examined trauma admissions between 2018 and 2022. The peer-reviewed paper, co-authored with Columbia University epidemiologist Charles Branas, analysed records for 5,764 admitted patients with a mean age of about 35.
Although road crashes produced the greatest number of deaths, burns had an 11.4% mortality rate, meaning they were less frequent but more likely to prove fatal among admitted patients. Falls were also a significant source of serious injury.
The published study found that GPHC’s annual in-hospital trauma mortality rate rose from 3.7% in 2018 to 6.9% in 2022, an 86.5% relative increase over the five-year period.
The yearly rate fluctuated during the COVID-19 restrictions but showed an overall upward trend. The researchers identified age, injury severity, injury type and other patient characteristics as factors associated with the risk of dying after admission.
The results provide evidence for road-safety interventions as well as improvements within the health system. Reducing crashes may prevent the largest category of deaths, while burn care requires particular attention because of the high mortality recorded among those patients.
Hospital measures could include quicker assessment, reliable access to diagnostic imaging, timely surgery, intensive monitoring and stronger rehabilitation services. The study itself does not establish which individual intervention would produce the greatest improvement.
Its scope must also be kept clear. The analysis covered patients admitted to GPHC, the country’s main referral hospital. It did not include every injured person in Guyana, people treated only as outpatients or those who died before reaching hospital.
The study was retrospective and relied on existing medical and trauma-registry records. It identified associations but did not prove that rapid economic growth caused the increase in hospital mortality. Factors such as traffic volume, vehicle use, referral patterns, access to emergency transport and changes in injury severity could all affect the observed trend.
