The Hunter's top trauma surgeon has warned about the long-term consequences of major injury, amid data that shows almost 2000 people were seriously injured in road crashes in five years.
NSW Centre for Road Safety figures show Lake Macquarie [572], Newcastle [449] and Cessnock [270] had the highest number of serious injuries in the region in road crashes from 2018 to 2022.
Almost 150 road fatalities occurred in the Hunter in that period.
Professor Zsolt Balogh, of HMRI and University of Newcastle, said patients who suffer major injuries will experience "long-term problems".
"This means anybody who suffers polytrauma in more than one body region and in a very severe way," Professor Balogh said.
This also referred to patients who lose lots of blood in an accident, require multiple surgeries, stay for days or weeks in intensive care and have weeks to months of rehabilitation.
"Even though they reasonably bounce back, they will have injuries they never recover from and get chronic disease," he said.
"They are more prone to heart disease, diabetes and cancer. They're overall life expectancy decreases.
"In major trauma, all patients have symptoms and connection to healthcare after a year."
Professor Balogh won HMRI's top award for research excellence in 2023 last Friday night.
His research has improved survival rates of trauma patients through achieving faster ways to stop bleeding, performing timely surgery and preventing organ failure.
"We've also had discoveries at the molecular and cellular level on what drives inflammation after major injury," he said.
Major injuries in his field are mostly from vehicle and motorbike crashes and falls.
"These are the leading ones, but it's any major injury," he said.
Such injuries, he said, were inevitably "a life changing event for the patient and their family".
One of his research aims for the future is to "eliminate" the long-term chronic disease burden that patients suffer after major injuries.
Professor Balogh, director of trauma at John Hunter Hospital, said the main causes of major injuries over the holiday season were road and trail bike crashes, water sports, boat accidents and new Christmas toys.
The road crashes often involve people travelling on holiday who don't frequently drive long distances.
"They are in a rush or maybe driving much longer than they're used to. They can be inexperienced drivers or suffering from fatigue," he said.
"They might be people in a celebratory mood who drive intoxicated."
Trail-bike riding on dirt tracks and properties was also "a frequent cause of major injuries".
"It's also water sport activities such as jet skiing, water skiing, or inexperienced people in a rental boat jumping out and being chopped by the propeller.
"Less severe injuries can be children with the latest Christmas toys."
These usually have wheels and are often motorised, such as electric scooters.
"They tend to have crashes and injuries a few days after Christmas or during the summer holiday," he said.
For those who end up at John Hunter, their chances of survival are good.
The Australian trauma registry showed that the hospital - the busiest trauma centre in NSW - had the best "risk adjusted survival rate" after major trauma in the country.
In his work with the hospital and university, Professor Balogh mentors the next generation of surgeons.
Asked if people were born to be surgeons, he said "some of us tend to have more essential traits to be a surgeon".
"But like most things, most people can be trained if they have ability, study and work hard and meet the criteria."
