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Abstract

During the last three decades, the frequency of fatal motor vehicle accidents has been significantly reduced in most industrialised countries. Nevertheless, major trauma continues to be the most common cause of death between the ages of 1 to 44. Injury accounts for more lost years of life than either cancer or heart disease [1]. About 5 million people died worldwide in 1990 as a result of trauma [2]. Demographic projections suggest that deaths from trauma will probably increase to 8.4 million by 2020 [3], becoming a growing burden mainly on low-income countries [4].

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Ummenhofer, W., Albrecht, R., Scheidegger, D. (2004). Pre-hospital care and triage in trauma. In: Gullo, A. (eds) Anaesthesia, Pain, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine — A.P.I.C.E.. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-2189-1_29

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