Are Facial Injuries Caused by Stumbling Different From Other Kinds of Fall Accidents?

Abstract

The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate and compare the epidemiology and pattern of maxillofacial injuries caused by stumbling and other kinds of falls. We evaluated all patients with facial injuries due to stumbling or falls who presented to Besat Hospital in Hamedan, Iran, during the 2.5-year study period and analyzed the acquired data. Of 2990 patients with facial injuries who were referred to Besat Hospital during the study period, 733 (24.5%) were injured by stumbling, and 246 (8.2%) were injured by falls. The male-to-female ratios in the stumbling and falls groups were 2:1 and 1.86:1, respectively. Although the rate of soft tissue injuries was the same in both groups, the rate of bone fractures was higher in fall accidents (1.6:1). In stumbling accidents, the most common type of bone fracture was nasal fracture, followed by dentoalveolar, mandibular, and zygomatic fractures. In falls, nasal fractures were the most common type of bone fracture, followed by zygomatic, mandibular, and dentoalveolar fractures. All of the Le Fort I, II, and III fractures, nasal-orbital-ethmoid, and frontal sinus injuries occurred in fall accidents. The rate of associated injuries in falls was higher than stumbling accidents. We concluded that the incidence, age distribution, rate, and pattern of bone fractures and the frequency and type of associated injuries in stumbling accidents were significantly different from that of fall accidents. For a good program planning to prevent and manage facial injuries, we recommend separate evaluation of stumbling and fall accidents.

Interrelation between facial soft tissue lessions, underlying fracture patterns and treatment of zygomatic bone trauma: a 10 year retrospective study

“…Hematoma was the most frequent associated soft tissue lesion in the current study, which is also reported by other authors [2,4,19,20]. Contrary to our results, other authors indicate the highest incidence of laceration [21,22]. The fact that in the current study hematomas are predominant shows that the severity of the injuries included in this study is reduced.…”

Updates on the Epidemiology and Pattern of Traumatic Maxillofacial Injuries in a Nigerian University Teaching Hospital: A 12-Month Prospective Cohort In-Hospital Outcome Study

“…This high prevalence of fall among children may be because of the fact that children are more involved in activities such as playing, running, jumping both at school, and while running errands. 26 It may also be that their motor coordination is not yet optimal and as such they are a group of people who can stumble and fall easily. Maxillofacial injuries following falls have been hardly reported before in the literature from our geographical region.…”

Maxillofacial Fractures due to Falls: does Fall Modality Determine the Pattern of Injury?

“…In the STSF patients, fractures of the middle third (especially OZM fractures) were predominant, as in the other groups, with the exception of LOCF patients. The injury severity was lower than in the other groups, probably because in this type of fall the patient instinctively tries to stop the fall, thereby minimising the impact with the ground [ 8 , 14 , 31 ]. This explains the threefold greater frequency of orthopaedic “protection” injuries (especially to the upper limbs) in comparison with the LOCF group.…”

“…Several articles studied and considered falls alone [ 8-10 ]. Other articles examined falls according to patient age; i.e., falls in the paediatric population [ 11 ] or in old patients [ 12 ], according to height [ 13 ], or according to the cause of the falls, such as slipping and tripping [ 14 ], loss of consciousness [ 15 ], epilepsy [ 16-18 ], and bicycle accidents [ 19-21 ].…”