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research letters

Indian Pediatr 2009;46: 439

Magnitude of Unintentional Injuries: Record Based Hospital Study

*Sandeep Sachdeva and Saroj Menon,

National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, and *Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi 110 008, India.
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Unintentional injuries accounted for 43% of adolescents (1091/2545) reporting to the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital in Delhi over 3 months.

Keywords: Adolescent, Injury, Unintentional.

Globally, non-communicable diseases including injuries are on the increase both in terms of morbidity and mortality with 16,000 deaths being reported daily. Injuries represent 12% of the global burden of disease, the third most important cause of overall mortality and the main cause of death among 1-40 year age groups(1). A retrospective record based hospital study was carried to determine the magnitude of unintentional injuries with a focus on adolescents reporting to Accident & Emergency [A & E] department of Safdarjung Hospital, a tertiary-care hospital in Delhi after obtaining permission from competent authority. Using simple random technique on the draw of numbers three months were identified i.e. February, May and September and all cases during these months with unintentional injuries were extracted from the master register and results were then analyzed by calculating percentages.

TABLE I



Unintentional Injuries in Patients Reporting to Accident and Emergency Department
Month Total Total Percentage Patients with Percentage Adolescents Percentage Percentage 
  patients adolescents [%] (b/a) unintentional [%]  (c/a) [10-19 years]  [%] (d/b)  [%]  (d/c)
  reporting [10-19 years]   injury (c)    with    
  due to all  reporting  due       unintentional    
  causes(a)  to all causes(b)       injury (d)    
Feb 12,449 1,685 13.53 4,418 35.48 946 56.14 21.41
May 19,720 2,590 13.13 5,852 29.67 1,241 47.91 21.20
Sep 21,069 3,361 15.95 5,054 23.98 1,086 32.31 21.48
Avg./ month 17,746 2,545 14.34 5,108 28.76 1,091 42.86 21.35
*Excluding Obstetric & Gynecology, and Burn cases

It was observed that on an average 17,746 patients reported due to all causes to emergency department hospital in a month, as shown in Table I. Out of these on an average 5108 (28.7 %) reported with unintentional injury/month. With regard to adolescent [10-19 years], 2545 cases reported per month to A & E department with 1091 [42.86%] reporting due to unintentional injury. The figure was maximum, 56.14 % in the month of February and lowest in September (32.31%). Similar downward trend was observed for all age group during these months. The proportion of adolescent who reported to A & E due to all causes was 14.34% whereas proportion of unintentional injury amongst adolescent in comparison to all age group was higher i.e. 21.35%. Amongst patients of all age group, nearly 29 % of cases whereas amongst adolescent nearly 43% of cases reported with unintentional injures. To conclude, this study reflects high magnitude of unintentional injuries in a tertiary care hospital especially during adolescent age group.

Reference

1. Peden M, McGee K, Sharma G. The injury chart book: a graphical overview of the global burden of injuries. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2002.

 

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