Morphometric Description of the Study Population

Abstract

Clinical and laboratory data of 57 patients from two study centers (Hannover, 32; Essen, 25) who complied with the criteria of entry for the study described above (see Sect. “Protocol of the Study”) were evaluated. This joint group of patients was distributed homogeneously. Comparison of the two study centers showed both groups to be nearly identical morphometrically (Table 1). The patients were distributed as follows: 40.3% car passengers, 26.4% pedestrians, 16.6% motorcyclists, and 16.7% victims of falls. The average number of single injuries per patient was 8.2. Injuries to the extremities were the commonest, occurring in 97% of patients (Table 2). Furthermore, the majority of patients (83% and 78%, respectively) also suffered injuries to the head and the organs of the thorax. Because severe skull brain injuries were excluded from the study, the head injuries (skull brain trauma, face skull injury) studied were of limited severity. There were no relevant differences between patients from both centers regarding the severity of injuries and injured regions.