Table 1. Population-Weighted Injury Descriptionsa.
| Injury Characteristics | Afghanistan | Iraq | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early | Middle | Late | Early | Middle | Late | |
| Oct 2001 to Jun 2006 |
Jul 2006 to Jun 2009 |
Jul 2009 to Dec 2017 |
Mar 2003 to Dec 2003 |
Jan 2004 to Dec 2007 |
Jan 2008 to Dec 2017 |
|
| Unweighted, No. | 699 | 2109 | 6621 | 1462 | 11 204 | 1604 |
| Weighted, No. | 1105 | 2593 | 18 199 | 2683 | 28 686 | 3646 |
| Body region (individual), % | ||||||
| Head | 30.3 | 58.8 | 59.0 | 20.9 | 34.8 | 53.0 |
| Face | 25.1 | 26.0 | 26.1 | 25.2 | 26.3 | 22.8 |
| Chest | 19.2 | 22.1 | 19.4 | 13.0 | 17.2 | 19.6 |
| Abdomen | 20.3 | 23.9 | 24.6 | 18.2 | 20.2 | 16.7 |
| Extremity | 51.1 | 47.4 | 50.0 | 47.0 | 50.9 | 45.0 |
| Traumatic amputation | 9.2 | 8.4 | 11.8 | 8.1 | 7.8 | 7.7 |
| Severe (AIS score, 3-6)b | 30.8 | 25.4 | 28.7 | 20.0 | 27.0 | 23.6 |
| External | 72.2 | 68.9 | 74.8 | 76.3 | 76.3 | 72.4 |
| Severe multiple-trauma (ISS 16-75) | 24.8 | 25.7 | 25.6 | 17.7 | 24.3 | 24.0 |
| Mechanism of injury (individual), % | ||||||
| Explosive | 61.4 | 80.5 | 77.4 | 70.1 | 78.7 | 79.8 |
| Gunshot | 29.1 | 17.9 | 21.2 | 18.4 | 18.1 | 16.6 |
| Otherc | 9.5 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 11.5 | 3.2 | 3.5 |
| Injury Severity Score (individual), % | ||||||
| 1-9 (Mild) | 56.3 | 59.0 | 58.2 | 66.3 | 55.8 | 59.6 |
| 10-15 (Moderate) | 15.8 | 12.6 | 14.7 | 12.8 | 16.9 | 13.9 |
| 16-24 (Severe) | 10.3 | 10.4 | 11.3 | 7.3 | 10.5 | 11.3 |
| 25-75 (Critical) | 17.7 | 18.0 | 15.8 | 13.6 | 16.8 | 15.2 |
| Mean (SD) | 14.5 (25.2) | 14.2 (25.0) | 12.9 (25.2) | 11.4 (22.8) | 13.8 (27.4) | 12.9 (25.2) |
| Interventions (aggregate), % | ||||||
| Tourniquet | 13.8 | 18.3 | 34.1 | 2.3 | 16.7 | 18.5 |
| Blood transfusion | 6.5 | 15.3 | 19.4 | 4.4 | 13.3 | 10.8 |
| Transport to surgical capability ≤60 min | 17.5 | 42.7 | 76.3 | 66.0 | 64.5 | 75.9 |
| Patient status (individual), % | ||||||
| Killed in action | 12.5 | 9.7 | 5.1 | 9.5 | 7.7 | 6.6 |
| Died of wounds | 3.3 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 3.1 |
| Survived | 84.3 | 88.0 | 92.8 | 88.5 | 90.0 | 90.1 |
Abbreviations: AIS, Abbreviated Injury Scale; ISS, Injury Severity Score.
a
Percentage of patients with injuries by body region, mechanism of injury, ISS, and patient status for Afghanistan and Iraq by major time periods from October 2001 through December 2017. Interventions are aggregate and all other variables are individual level.
b
The AIS is an anatomically based traumatic injury severity scoring system that classifies injuries by body region according to its relative severity on a 6-point scale (1 indicates minor; 6, maximal).24
c
Other injuries include blunt trauma injuries, such as falls, motor vehicle crashes, and aircraft crashes.