TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Causes of injuries resulting in a visit to the emergency department of a Provincial General Hospital, Nyanza, western Kenya
JO  - African health sciences
A1  - Ogendi, Jok
A1  - Ayisi, Jg
SP  - 255
EP  - 261
VL  - 11
IS  - 2
N2  - BACKGROUND: There is increasing importance of trauma not only as a major cause of surgical admissions, but also a significant cause of morbidity, mortality and disability. OBJECTIVE: To document injury-related visits and hospitalization in a provincial hospital, western Kenya. METHODS: On-site review of records of all patients who visited emergency department (ED) from January 2002 through December 2003, and admissions of year 2003. RESULTS: A total of 15365 patients visited the ED, of which 41% (6319/15395) were injury cases. The leading causes of injury were assault (42%), road traffic crashes (RTC) (28%), unspecified soft tissue injury (STI) (11%). Cut-wounds, dog-bites, falls, burns and poisoning were infrequently reported (each <10%). The age group 15-44 years formed the largest proportion (75%). A total of 3253 patients were admitted in 2003, of which 1010 (31%) were due to injuries. RTC were leading cause of hospitalization (49%) followed by assault (16%). Men were more likely to be hospitalized due to assault (OR=2.22; CI = 1.45 - 3.41) and not burns or poisoning (p<0.01). There were 64 (6.3%) injury-related deaths, mainly resulting from RTC (41.9%), burns (19.4%) and assault (16.1%). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides considerable information on major causes of injuries, useful for epidemiological surveillance and injury prevention campaigns.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1680-6905
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -