BMJ  2005;331:1094-1096 (12 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7525.1094

Editorial

Trauma care research and the war on uncertainty

Improving trauma care demands large trials—and large trials need funding and collaboration

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

For people aged 5-45 years trauma is second only to HIV/AIDS as a cause of death.^{1 2} Every day world wide over 300 000 people are severely injured, about 10 000 of whom die. Road traffic crashes and violence are the leading causes. The global number of road deaths is forecast to rise by 65% between 2000 and 2020 and the number of violent deaths has increased steadily, with the 20th century being the most violent on record. Despite the best preventive efforts, providing effective trauma care will remain a major challenge for healthcare professionals. There is considerable potential to improve trauma outcomes by using clinical audit to increase the implementation of evidence based interventions in trauma services.³ However, for many trauma care interventions, the balance of risks and benefits is uncertain and they must be assessed in randomised trials before being implemented.

Compared with the disease burden there is . . . [Full text of this article]

(ian.roberts@lshtm.ac.uk)
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT

University of Manchester, Manchester M6 8HD

University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU

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