Abdominal trauma occurring in persons older than 60 years over a 30-year period (1950-79) in a well defined region of Sweden was reviewed. The 177 patients comprised 12.5% of the total with abdominal trauma during that period. Road traffic accidents were the main cause of trauma (48% of cases). The incidence of motor-car accidents rose sharply during the first two decades of the study. Injuries to the liver and bile ducts and multiple intra-abdominal injuries were more common in the elderly than in younger patients, but injury to the abdominal wall was less common. A tendency towards more severe injuries and multiple trauma with extra-abdominal involvement emerged during the study period. The mortality rate was 27.6% in the patients older than 60, but 9.1% in the overall patient series with abdominal trauma. One-third of all the deaths among the older patients were directly due to the abdominal trauma. One consequence of the increasing numbers of old people in the general population is probably that more and more cases of abdominal trauma will be seen in the higher age groups.
