An epidemiologic survey of maxillofacial fractures and concomitant injuries in Kaduna, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: There is an upward trend in facial injuries following changes in population pattern, increasing industrialization and urbanization, hence maxillofacial trauma is becoming a burden and a leading medical problem in emergency rooms worldwide. Method: A retrospective study of patients with maxillofacial fractures seen and treated at the Oral and Maxillofacial Unit, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, Nigeria between January 1993 to January 2003. Data extracted from the patients' records include aetiology, age, sex, types and sites of fractures, treatment modality and concomitant injuries. Results: There were 820 fractures of the maxillofacial skeleton and 70 concomitant injuries from 543 patients. Road traffic accident (50.8%) was the most common aetiologic factor, followed by falls (22.3%) and fights (18.8%). The age range was from 3½ years to 67 years (mean=39.7) with a peak incidence in the 4 th decade (n=197, 36.3%) with a male-female sex ratio of 3.7:1. The most common location of maxillofacial fractures was the mandible 615(75%) and middle third 205(25%). There were 316(58.2%) isolated mandibular fracture, 124(22.8%) isolated middle third fractures and 65(12%) combined mandibular and middle third fractures. Majority of the patients were treated by closed reduction. Concomitant injuries were 8.5% with orthopaedic injuries accounting for the majority (67.10%). Conclusion: Maxillofacial fractures are on the increase. We advocate the establishment of regionalized trauma centers.

Prevalence and aetiological factors of maxillofacial trauma in a rural district hospital in the Eastern Cape

“…13 In contrast, certain studies have revealed road traffic accidents to be the leading cause of maxillofacial trauma. 28,35,36 However, in this study, only 16% of the patients had suffered road traffic accidents. Only one patient had sustained maxillofacial injuries from a gunshot, whereas in other parts of South Africa maxillofacial gunshot wounds are a common finding.…”

Analysis of Road Traffic Crashes—Related Maxillofacial Injuries Severity and Concomitant Injuries in 201 Patients Seen at the UCH, Ibadan

“…The peak age of incidence of road traffic maxillofacial injuries reported in this study is consistent with literatures. 1,[7][8][9][10][11] The 21 to 40 years age group comprises the most active members of the society who are frequently engaged in commuting from one location to another and are therefore more exposed to the threat of RTC than any other age group. There was a male preponderance of 4.8:1 in this study which is far less than 16.9:1 reported by Adekeye, 7 but slightly greater than the 2.9:1 reported by Fasola et al 9 and 3.7:1 reported by Ajike et al 10 This shows that females are getting more involved in activities that expose them to RTC which may not be unconnected with the prevailing economic recession in the nation requiring more members of the family to be involved in sourcing for income for the family.…”

Trends and Distributions of Road Traffic Crashes and Injuries, Nigeria, 2013 – 2016

“…These high fatality rates could be a reason why Nigeria is leading other countries in RTC's fatality reported from WHO Afro region [5,6]. This study revealed that male gender and adults are mostly affected with RTCs [19][20][21] and could cause severe economic effects on household productivity because male genders are the usual breadwinners for households in Nigeria [22]. The proportion of fatal crashes in this study was similar to 28.6% reported in a study that analyzed RTCs between 1990 and 2012 [6].…”