Epidemiological Study of Traumatic Injuries in Emergency Departments of Mazandaran Hospitals, 2010

Background and The incidence of injuries and accidents, their types and leading causes and the victim's features are variable in different areas and times. Different aspects of injuries and accidents should be considered in researches thereby. This survey aimed at investigating the epidemiological features of accident and injuries victims attending Mazandaran hospitals, during 2010. In a cross sectional research, all referred victims of accidents and injuries (n= 58750) to hospitals of Mazandaran province were studied. Required data was collected from existing injuries registration system of hospitals emergency departments. Data analysis was performed in SPSS using descriptive statistics, chi-square and independent t-test. The incidence rate of all injuries was 2306.7 in 100,000 population. Among the victims 71.7% were male. The mean age of cases was 29.9±17.01 and injuries (34.6%) occurred more in the group aged 20-29 years old. Incidence of injuries were higher in June (10.6%) and July (10.2%). Most injuries (70.6%) occurred in urban areas. Road traffic accidents (39.8%) and trauma and falling accidents (31.8%) were the most common injuries. According to the findings, the main cause of injuries in Mazandaran was road traffic accidents that have posed high burden to the province. The aforementioned rate of injuries shows that many people experience some kind of injuries throughout their life. Therefore, practical implementation of the Safe Community Program is an urgent need that should be considered in all national and regional initiatives. The success of such programs largely depends on participation of all agencies, organizations and individuals.