Lesiones neurológicas por accidentes de tránsito en vehículos de dos ruedas. Servicio de emergencia. Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso. Cuenca- Ecuador. 2014 –2018

Abstract

Background: traffic accidents are serious public health problems worldwide, with high economic and social costs. Recreational cyclists between 5 and 14 years old (75% of users are children in the US), competitive cyclists from 20 to 39 years old (1) (2), and young adult male motorcyclists at productive ages and under the influence of alcohol and drugs, are users of remarkably vulnerable two-wheelers on the tracks (3). Objective: to determine the frequency of neurological injuries caused by traffic accidents in users of 2 wheelers users treated after trauma in the emergency service of Vicente Corral Moscoso Hospital in Cuenca, Ecuador, period 2014 January – 2018 December. Methodology: a retrospective, observational, descriptive study was carried out, using as a tool the review of medical records of the Vicente Corral Moscoso Hospital, using a form previously designed for research. The data was processed using the SPSS V. 20 program using simple and multiple frequency tables Results: in the present study, the prevalence of two-wheeler accidents with neurological injuries was 21.31%. Cranioencephalic trauma occurred in 75%, with mild ECT (70.4% n = 293) the most frequent, mostly diffuse intracranial lesions (43.1% n = 177), concussions being the most frequent (86.4% n = 154). Spinal cord lesions occurred in 17%, 97.5% (n = 80) classified as normal ASIA E, located more frequently in the cervical region (56.5% n = 48). Peripheral nerve injuries occurred in 8% (n = 41), most were neuropraxies (97.5% n = 40), located in the lower extremities (53.7% n = 22), the most affected nerve was N. sciatic (50% n = 11). The motorcycle was involved 89.7% and the bicycle in 10.3% of cases. Accidents occurred mostly in the urban area (60.1%), in the morning (34.9%), on weekends, male users (80.5%), young adults aged 20-39 years (56.3%) are mostly affected , with secondary education (50.5%), urban residence (59.95%), the majority were hospitalized less than 1 day (69.2% n = 288), with 89.2% (n = 257) motorcyclists and 10.8% (n = 31) cyclists. 2.9% (n = 12) graduated dead, being 91.7% (n = 11) motorcyclists where 81.8% were drivers (n = 9), on the other hand, 8.3% were cyclists (n = 1).