Objectives: To study injury patterns and medical rescue operations related to tornadoes that occur in rural areas, this study investigated the data pertaining to the 2017 Chifeng tornado (China).
Methods: Medical records of 52 tornado-related patients were investigated. Data were collected from 3 local hospitals that received all the tornado victims.
Results: A total of 148 injuries were diagnosed. Tornado-related injuries were mainly caused by collapsed houses (51.9%) and direct physical trauma caused by the tornado (38.5%). Most injuries occurred outdoors (63.5%). The head (20.3%) and thorax (14.8%) were most 2 frequent anatomical injury sites. Soft-tissue injuries (43.9%) and contusions and lacerations (37.3%) were the 2 most common injury types. On evaluating the Abbreviated Injury Scale scores, a score of 1 was the most common (66.2%), and a score of 6 was not recorded.
Conclusions: A trailing phenomenon in the distribution of time to admission among the victims of a particular tornado in China was observed. The delivery is timely compared with nondisaster situation. There was a statistically significant difference of injury causes between outdoor and indoor patients. Helmets should be used by potential tornado victims. Basement units capable of functioning as shelters should be built in villages.
Keywords: disaster medicine; emergency medical services; hospital emergency service; public health professional education; tornadoes.