Investigation of the accidents recorded in units affiliated with Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Najafi F, MSc
1, Beheshti MH, MSc
2, Teimori E, BSc
3, Choupani A, MSc
4, Teimori GH, MSc
*5
1- MSc of Epidemiology, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran. 2- Faculty Member, Dept. of Occupational Health, School of Health, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran. 3- MSc Student in Health Education, Student Research Committee, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran.4- MSc of Occupational Health Engineering, Dept. of Occupational Health, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. 5- MSc of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Health, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran.
Abstract Received: March 2017,
Accepted: June 2017
Background: Accidents are a major cause of death, injury and disability. This study was conducted to examine the epidemiology of injuries due to accidents in units affiliated with Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all patients in units affiliated with Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences were studied from March 2014 to March 2015. Information on accidents were classified according to the International Statistical Classification of Disease and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10). Data analysis was performed using SPSS software.
Results: In total, 8151 people were studied. The average age of injured was 26.5 ± 18.2 years. About 68% of the patients were male and others were female. Blows (34.8%) and traffic accidents (32.4%) were the most common causes of accidents. Most of the accidents occurred in the age group of 15 to 35 years. Statistical tests showed significant correlation between the type of accident and age, gender, location and time of the accident.
Conclusions: The majority of accidents occurred in young men and in urban areas. So planning and implementing policies for prevention of accidents and injuries in this age group as a health priority is a key instrument for promoting safety in the city. |
Keywords: Accidents, Epidemiology, Iran
Introduction
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines accident as an event without precedent that causes recognizable damage (1). Today, accidents have highest socio-economic impact compared to other diseases and are the main cause of mortality, hospitalization and disability in the first three decades of life (2). Injuries caused by accidents will be the second leading cause of disability and the third leading cause of death in developing countries around the world by 2020 (3, 4). Injuries as predictable and preventable events, are one of the most important public health challenges that impose great economic and social burden on society especially in developing countries (2, 5).
The majority of deaths in the 5th decade of life are due to injuries caused by accidents. Accidents are the second leading cause of disability and can cause physical and mental disorders, and in extreme cases can lead to death. They would impose heavy costs on society and family (6).
Mortality rates due to accidents are increasing since 1990 the majority of which are in developing countries (6). In Iran accidents in different age groups are the main cause of hospitalization (7).
The first and most basic step in preventing and controlling accident is identification and assessment of problems and accurate depiction of the current status (8). Due to the differences in the rate and pattern of accidents in different regions and the necessity to identify and evaluate them, this study was done to investigate injuries caused by accidents from epidemiological aspect in units affiliated with Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
Material and Methods
This cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the recorded injuries caused by accidents in patients referred to health centers, clinics and hospitals affiliated to Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences. In this study, all patients who had referred to health centers and hospitals due to injuries caused by electric shock, road accidents, animal attacks, violence, falls, burns, trauma, scorpion and snake bites, drowning, poisoning and other reasons were enrolled from March 2014 to March 2015. Definitions and classification of the information about the type of accidents was based on the International Statistical Classification of Disease and Related Health Problems, 10th revision (ICD-10) (9). The purpose of International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is to systematically collect, compare and interpret the information of diseases and mortality collected in different countries and regions at different times. ICD-10 is contains 21 chapters and each chapter is shown with a Roman numeral (I, II, III, IV, and etc.). For coding injuries, poisoning, and other conditions resulted from external causes should separately codify both the nature of injuries and external causes of them.
Data regarding age, sex, type of accident, and location of accident was extracted from accidents registration programs with the assistance of the Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences from all cases that had been registered in the program from 2014 to 2015. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 15, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and descriptive statistical tests.
Results
From total of recorded accidents, Men and women were involved in 68% (5541 persons) and 32% (2610 cases) of accidents, respectively. The average age of injured people was 26.5 ± 18.2 years and the age range of injured was 0 to 99 years. The highest incidence of accidents was in the age range of 15-35 years and the lowest occurred after the age of 70. The most common type of accident was trauma (34.8%) followed by traffic accidents (32.4%), and the least common type of accident was drowning (0.1%) in both genders. The frequency and distribution of registered injuries caused by accidents according to gender is shown in table 1.
In traffic accidents, motorcyclist accident, was the most common cause of traffic accidents. The region of accident was known in 99.7% of accidents from which urban areas (65.1%) had the highest rate, rural areas (27.9%) and the lowest percentage was out-of-town and in rural areas (6.6%).
In terms of place of accident, streets had the highest percentage of accidents (36.7%), Home (33.8%), Highway and road (7.9%), Workplace (6.1%), Public places (3.9), Sports and recreation places (1.7%), school and educational facilities (1.4%) had the lowest rate and unknown and other items had (5.7% and 2.9%, respectively). Most accidents happened during the summer (28.3%) and lowest happened in spring (18%). The highest rate of accidents occurred in October (13.4%) and September (10.5%) and lowest occurred in May (2%).
Table 1: Frequency and distribution of registered injuries caused by accidents depending on the gender and type of accident
Total |
Gender |
Type of accident |
Woman |
Man |
% |
N |
% |
N |
% |
N |
0.4 |
29 |
0.3 |
9 |
0.4 |
20 |
Electrocution |
12.1 |
987 |
14.8 |
387 |
10.8 |
600 |
Motorcyclist
Automobile ride
Pedestrian |
Traffic accidents |
16.8 |
1366 |
8.3 |
217 |
20.7 |
1149 |
3.5 |
285 |
4.0 |
105 |
3.2 |
180 |
0.5 |
41 |
0.5 |
12 |
0.5 |
29 |
Animal attacks |
5.6 |
459 |
3.3 |
86 |
6.7 |
373 |
Violence |
2.7 |
220 |
5.6 |
146 |
1.3 |
74 |
Suicide |
10.4 |
851 |
12.8 |
335 |
9.3 |
516 |
Fall |
2.1 |
174 |
3.2 |
83 |
1.6 |
91 |
Burn |
34.8 |
2838 |
32.1 |
839 |
36.1 |
1999 |
Strike |
0.7 |
54 |
0.8 |
21 |
0.6 |
33 |
Scorpion and snake bites |
0.0 |
3 |
0.0 |
1 |
0.0 |
2 |
Drowning |
7.9 |
645 |
11.4 |
297 |
6.3 |
348 |
Poisoning |
2.4 |
199 |
2.8 |
72 |
2.3 |
127 |
Other cases |
100 |
8151 |
100 |
2610 |
100 |
5541 |
Total |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Figure 1 shows the number of accidents determined based on the months of the year. There was a significant correlation between the type of accident and age, gender, location and time of the accident (P < 0.05).