Prevalence and outcome of injury in patients visiting the emergency Department of Yirgalem General Hospital, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundTraumatic injuries continue to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the developing world. Despite the high burden of injury in Ethiopia, the occurrence and health impact have not received due attention. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence and outcome of injury among patients visiting the Emergency Department (ED) of Yirgalem General Hospital, southern Ethiopia.MethodsA facility-based prospective cross sectional study was conducted from March, 27 – April, 30/2017. The final calculated sample size was 353 and all eligible trauma patients who visited the ED of Yirgalem General Hospital during the study period were included in the study. Data was collected using a checklist which was adapted from the WHO injury surveillance guideline. The data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 19.ResultsA total of 346 patients, who visited the ED during the study period, participated in the study and of them, 171 (49.4%) were injury cases. Unintentional injuries accounted 123 (71.9%) of the total injuries and the age group ≤24 years (48.2%) was the most commonly affected age group. More than half (51.4%) of unintentional injury cases were due to Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) and 48 (28%) of the cases were attributed to interpersonal violence (assault). The majority of patients, 97 (56.7%), had a minor or superficial injury (like bruises and minor cuts), 44 (25.7%) had a moderate injury and 16 (9.3%) had severe type of injury requiring intensive medical/surgical management; and RTIs accounted for 11 (68%) of all severe injuries.ConclusionThe prevalence of injury was considerably high in Yirgalem General Hospital. Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) accounted for the majority of severe injury cases; therefore, appropriate prevention strategies should be strengthened and implemented against RTIs. We also suggest that children and young adults should be educated in schools and work environments to prevent injuries/accidents.

Pattern and Outcomes of Injuries among Trauma Patients in Gedeo Zone, Dilla, South Ethiopia: A 5 Years Retrospective Analysis

“…The majority of the patients were primary school attendants and students. This finding is in line with the study conducted in Yirgalem, Nigeria, and Tanzania (2,23,24). A multicenter study conducted in Amhara Regional State found that the illiterate and farmers were the most likely injured patients unlike the findings of this study (6).…”

“…Injury has become a life-threatening community health problem associated with significant mortality and morbidity worldwide (1,2,(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) injury and violence surveillance, more than 5 million people die per year due to injury which accounts for 9% of the world's deaths (19).…”

Epidemiology and outcomes of injuries among trauma patients in Ethiopia: A 5 -years retrospective Analysis

“…In this study, patients from rural area are more affected with injury as compared to urban and this finding is consistent with a study done in University of Gondar and Yirgalem 2,7 . However, patients residing in Urban are affected more likely as compared to patients from rural in multicenter study conducted in Amhara regional state and Sub-Saharan African countries 6,20 .…”

“…The majority of patients were primary School attendants and student in regard to occupational status. This finding is comparable with a study conducted in Yirgalem, Nigeria and Tanzania 2,23,24 . A multicenter study conducted in Amhara regional state found that illiterate and Farmer were the most likely injured patients in contrary to this study finding 6 .…”

“…Young population (20-29 years) and those with low monthly income (less than 650 Ethiopian Birr) were more likely to sustain injury incidents when compared to the other population groups 22 . Another study conducted in Yirglem General Hospital reported the prevalence of injury as 49.9% and the most common mechanism of injury was road traffic accident 2 .…”