Impact of crush syndrome severity on clinical outcomes after the earthquakes in southeastern Türkiye

BACKGROUND: Crush syndrome is a potentially life-threatening complication of prolonged compression injuries, frequently encountered after earthquakes. The 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes in Türkiye caused extensive crush-related trauma. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of baseline crush syndrome severity on hospitalization outcomes and complications. METHODS: In this multicenter, retrospective observational study, 962 crush syndrome patients hospitalized after the earthquakes were evaluated. Patients were grouped as mild-moderate vs. severe-critical based on clinical presentation. Demographics, laboratory results, comorbidities, trauma types, complications, and outcomes were assessed. Comparisons between groups were performed using the Mann–Whitney U test and chi-square test, and survival analysis was conducted with the Kaplan–Meier method. RESULTS: Of 962 patients, 232 (24.1%) were classified as severe-critical and 730 (75.9%) as mild-moderate. “Severe-critical patients had significantly higher rates of hypotension (38.8% vs 2.3%), ARDS (10.2% vs 1.7%), sepsis (31.7% vs 9.1%), DIC (8.5% vs 1.4%), arrhythmias (11.9% vs 0.8%), compartment syndrome (53.5% vs 36.9%), and ICU (95.6% vs 40.9%) requirement than mild-moderate (all p