The experience of one institution dealing with terror: The El Aqsa Intifada riots

Background: During a period of 13 months - 1 October 2000 to 31 October 2001 - 586 terror assault casualties were treated in the trauma unit and emergency department of Hadassah University Hospital (Ein Kerem campus); 27% (n = 158) were hospitalized and the rest were discharged within 24 hours. Objectives: To analyze the special requirements of a large number of victims who received treatment during a short period. Methods: Data were attained from the main admitting office and the trauma registry records. Factors analyzed included age, gender, mechanism of injury, anatomic site of injury, Injury Severity Score, and length of stay. Results: Males comprised 81% of the hospitalized patients. The majority of the injuries (70%) were due to gunshot wounds and 31% of the hospitalized patients were severely injured (ISS ≥ 16). Twelve patients died, yielding a mortality rate of 7.5%. Conclusion: The nature of the injuries was more complex and severe than trauma of other etiologies, as noted by the mean length of stay (10.2 vs. 7.2 days), mean intensive care unit stay (2.8 vs. 0.9 days), and mean operations per patient (0.7 vs. 0.5). The mean insurance cost for each hospitalized terror casualty was also higher than for other trauma etiologies (US$ 3,200 vs. 2,500).