BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to determine the economic impact of trauma in an university hospital in Curitiba. METHODS: A retrospective study of medical registries was carried out and they were divided in accordance to trauma mechanism, number of in-hospital days and total medical assistance costs were also considered for each patient on the In-Hospital Authorization Form. From these data, the average cost, average in-hospital days and average patient/day costs were calculated. RESULTS: The average cost for the 349 patients was US$ 568.22; for fire gun victims, US$ 692.50; for blade victims, US$ 676.90; aggression victims, US$ 412.30; fall victims and traffic accident victims, US$ 600.03. The average in-hospital days for the total sample was 6.2; fire gun victims, 7.7; blade victims, 5.3; aggression victims, 6.7; fall victims, 7 and traffic accident victims was of 6. The average patient/day cost, for the total sample, was US$ 91.65; fire gun victims, US$ 89.99; blade victims, US$ 127.66; aggression victims, US$ 61.54; fall victims, US$ 71.86 and traffic accident victims, US$100.05. CONCLUSIONS: This study corroborates with many others that show that trauma is a neglected disease, important to public health due to its enormous social and economic wich can be avoided by means of preventive measures.
Wound and injuries; Socioeconomic factors; Expenditures, Hospital Preventive measures; Hospitals, university