Epidemiology of the Injuries Due to Mine and Other Munitions Explosions in Ilam Province - I.R.Iran During 2001-2007

The widespread use of explosive weapons such as mine is cause of various injuries in the victims. It is very important to care about life safety of the people and military personnel as specialized people in charge of security of the nation. Epidemiological studies in these events are one of the most effective ways to manage and reduce the damage caused by the explosion of groups in the border areas contaminated by mines and other explosive materials. This study deals to evaluate kinds of injuries related to mine and munitions explosion and their related factors in Ilam province - Iran. This survey is a cross-sectional (descriptive-analytic) study. Data for this study were collected from census of all case records of injuries caused by the explosion of mines and other munitions between 2001- 2007 that were registered in department of forensic medicine، Ilam، Iran. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square، Fisher exact، one-way ANOVA and Tukey tests were used to describe the results of this study. From the total of the 106 injuries over the years there were 95. 3% male and the rest were female، that age group of 20 to 40 years had the highest number of injuries (47. 2 %). Also among the injuries، limb defects were 43. 4% (CI95%: 0. 29-0. 57)، skin lesions were 16% (CI95%: 0. 01-0. 33)، eye injuries were 15. 1% (CI95%: 0. 01-0. 32)، upper extremity neurovascular defects were 3. 8% (CI95%: -0. 14-0. 22)، upper and lower limb bone defects were 18. 9% (CI95%: 0. 02-0. 36) and of skull bone injuries were 2. 8% (CI95%: -0. 15-0. 21). Also، we found significant relationship between of the type of injury and age، gender، occupational status and type of explosives in individuals injured. The degree of impairment caused by the explosion of mines and other ammunition in this study is higher than the other similar studies. These events can leave irreparable harm to the physical or mental health of the affected people. Also ignoring the areas affected can much damage mental health residents، such as farmers، ranchers، and the troops stationed at the border