Common Types and Patterns of Bone Fractures and Their Prevalence in Road Traffic Accident Victims Visiting Governmental Hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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2017-12
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Abstract
Background: Road traffic injuries are among the leading causes of preventable death and life-long disability globally. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that about 1.24 million people die annually on the world’s roads, with 20–50 million sustaining non-fatal injuries. Objective of the study: The objective of this research was to assess common types and patterns of bone fractures and their prevalence in RTA victims visiting Addis Ababa Governmental Hospitals.
Materials and Methods: Institution based retrospective cross sectional study was carried out in in Addis Ababa Governmental Hospitals. The sample size was 384 and 5 hospitals were selected from 11 governmental hospitals in Addis Ababa. The data was entered into EPI data manager version 3.3 and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 22. The results were summarized in the form of proportions and frequency tables for categorical variables. P-values were computed for categorical variables using Chi-square (χ2) test. Bivariate analysis was carried out to distinguish the relationship between dependent and independent variables.
Results: Out of 13,526 road traffic accident victims, 384 road traffic accident victims were included in the study. The study participants comprised of 263 (68.5 %) men and 121 (31.5 %) women. Majority of the injured victims were pedestrians (232, 60.4%). Extremities and the head were the most common body regions injured accounting for 45.1 % and 20.6 % of cases respectively. Soft tissue injuries accounts for 227(59.1%) and fractures 92(24%) were the most common patterns of injured regions. The most common site of fracture was the lower limb which accounted for (55.6%). There was statistically significant association between the age of RTA victims and multiple site bone fractures; (Pearson correlation (r=+ 0.264) and P= 0.037).
Conclusion: The current study shows diverse injury characteristics among the victims of RTA attending Addis Ababa Governmental Hospitals. The findings reflect that road traffic accident is a major public health problem. The age group that is most frequently involved in RTAs is the 15-34 years old group. Majority of the victims in this study were pedestrian. The extremities and the head were the most common body regions injured.
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Road traffic accident, Injury characteristics, Fractures, Prevalence, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.