Cold Trauma in the Structure of External Causes of Mortality and Disability in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

• Main Authors: Alexander F. Potapov, Albina A. Ivanova, Revo Z. Alekseev, Svetlana V. Semenova
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Medical Research and Development Corporation 2018-09-01
• Series: International Journal of Biomedicine
• Subjects: excessive natural cold; hypothermia; frostbites; disability rate; mortality rate
• Online Access: http://ijbm.org/articles/IJBM_8(3)_OA12.pdf
• ISSN: 2158-0510; 2158-0529

The purpose of this study was to analyze the data of official medical statistics on mortality and disability in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) (RS(Y)) as a result of exposure to excessively low natural temperatures. For the retrospective epidemiological analysis, we used the data of the official statistics of RS(Y) for 2011-2015, data on the disability of the Federal State Institution "Main Bureau of Medical and Social Expertise of RS(Y)" for 2014-2016, and data of the burn department of the Center for Emergency Medical Care of Yakutsk for 2014-2016. In Yakutia, during 2011-2015, 662 people died in road accidents, and 812 died as a result of exposure to excessive natural cold; the mortality rates were 13.8 and 17.0 per 100,000 population, respectively. In the structure of external causes of mortality, the share of cold trauma in 2015 was 10.4% (15.1 per 100,000 population), which put cold trauma in the third rank after suicide and murders, having displaced road accidents in fourth place (5.6%, 7.8 per 100,000 population). The disability rate due to frostbites was 1.19 per 100,000 population in 2014 and 1.73 per 100,000 population in 2015 and 2016.