The Influence of Socioeconomic Factors on the Epidemiology of Maxillofacial Fractures in Southern Italy

Abstract

Maxillofacial fractures represent a serious public health problem. Their epidemiology is extremely variable and its analysis is crucial to establish effective treatment and prevention of these injuries. The aim of this multicentric retrospective study was to analyze causes, demographics, incidence, characteristics of 987 patients diagnosed with maxillofacial trauma between 2011 and 2015 at Complex Operative Unit of Maxillofacial Surgery of Federico II University of Naples and Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Italy; 657 male and 310 female patients were admitted in the study. The most frequently observed fracture involved the mandible (399 patients, 35.4%), followed by zygomatic complex (337 patients, 29.9%), orbital walls (160 patients, 14.2%), and nasal bones (129 patients, 11.4%). The most frequent cause of fracture was assaults (30.4%), followed by road traffic injuries (27.2%), falls (23.2%), sport accidents (15.4%), and others causes (2.6%). Significant variations of etiology have been detected between the 2 hospitals in relationship with different migration flow trends and cultural and socioeconomic features. Epidemiological analysis of maxillofacial fractures is crucial to identify the trauma burden and to help in developing a more efficient system to plan resource allocation and to deliver care and preventive measures establishing clinical and research priorities for effective treatment and prevention of these injuries.

Medico-legal evaluation and trend of the different patterns of maxillofacial fractures concomitant with closed head injury in Upper Egypt: retrospective study

“…The main etiology for craniomaxillofacial fractures over the reported 6-year period was road traffic accidents (69.7%); this finding is supported by several studies where traffic accidents were the most prevalent etiology of facial trauma (Samieirad et al 2015). The second etiology was fall then followed by interpersonal violence which was the third responsible etiological cause; this result is similar to Sbordone et al 2018. Alternatively, other recent metacentric retrospective studies from Southern Italy in 2018 reported that the vast majority of cases were due to violent assaults followed by road traffic accident (RTA) then falls (Khan and Arif 2005).…”

Telemedicine in Oral and Maxillo-Facial Surgery: An Effective Alternative in Post COVID-19 Pandemic

“…If implemented, the telemedicine platform will bring a variety of potential benefits for both patients and healthcare organizations [ 3 , 19 ]. In the field of maxillofacial surgery, it will be possible to think of a wider use as in the traumatology which, as is known, does not represent an emergency condition but a deferrable urgency [ 20 ]. Through a telematics meeting of a multidisciplinary team, it is possible to plan the treatment, through the visualization of the radiological images, and program the surgical intervention to minimize the duration of the hospital stay beyond that health spending.…”

Epidemiology of Maxillofacial Fractures at a Teaching Hospital in Malaysia: A Retrospective Study

“…In Victoria, Australia, while RTA was found to be the most common cause of MFF in a study on data obtained from 2001 to 2004 [16], another retrospective study on cases managed at the Alfred Hospital, also in Victoria from 2009 to 2011, showed that assault was the most common mechanism of injury [31]. Another recent multicentric retrospective study from Southern Italy in 2018 showed that the most frequent cause of facial injuries was assault (30.4%), followed by RTA (27.2%), and falls (23.2%) [32]. In contrast to that, the study done by Bocchialini et al from Brescia, Italy, reported RTA as the main cause of MFF (20%), followed by assault (14.4%), and sports (14.1%) [12].…”