Futaleufú corresponds to one of the most affected cities by the eruption of Chaitén volcano, located closer than 50km of distance. It is of common interest to recognize the differences between the incidence of diseases in emergency rooms during the year before the eruption and the year after this. Our primary objective is to determine the profile of diseases found on the Emergency Department of Futaleufu Hospital between May and October of 2007 compared with the same period of 2008. We conducted a cross sectional study of the diagnoses in the queries of the Emergency Department of Futaleufu between May and October 2007 and 2008. We excluded data queries that do not
have demographic data, date or diagnosis of each query, the latter being categorized according to the International Classification of Diseases and Other Health Problems (ICD-10). Results were analyzed using MS Excel and MS Word. 2195 diagnosis were made, 2162 (98.5%) met the inclusion criteria; Number of diagnoses in 2007 and 2008 were 917 and 1245 respectively. May 2008 had the largest number of diagnoses: 303. Number of diagnoses by gender: male 2007: 400, male 2008: 559, female 2007: 517, female 2008: 686; respiratory diseases predominated in both years with 32.8% of consultations in 2007 and 34.7% in 2008. Conclusions: The number of diagnoses increased in 2008, with May 2008 having the higher number of them. There was also a female predominance of diagnoses. Respiratory tract diseases are the most common pathology found in this population, minimally varying the percentage of total consultations in both years.
Ayala Pardo, C. P., Espinoza García, E. F., Ruiz Ponce, M. A., & Gayoso Neira, R. M. (2012). Patologías diagnosticadas en el Servicio de Urgencia de Futaleufú antes y después de la primera erupción del volcán Chaitén. Revista Chilena De Estudiantes De Medicina, 6(1), 7–12. https://doi.org/10.5354/0718-672X.2012.72580
