Falls- Underestimated but Significant Mode of Trauma!

Zafar Iqbal; Fakhar Hameed; Muhammad Zubair Khalid; Ahmed Ibrahim

doi:10.29054/apmc/2013.406

Zafar Iqbal Surgical Specialist Zayed Military Hospital Abu Dhabi, UAE
Fakhar Hameed FRCS (Glasg), FCPS (Pak) Associate Professor of Surgery PMC/Allied Hospital Faisalabad
Muhammad Zubair Khalid FRCS (Ireland) Surgical Specialist Al Rahba Hospital Abu Dhabi, UAE
Ahmed Ibrahim Consultant General Surgery Zayed Military Hospital Abu Dhabi, UAE

DOI: https://doi.org/10.29054/apmc/2013.406

Keywords: Falls, Trauma

Abstract

Aim. To review the common causes of injuries and high light the importance of falls in trauma. Method. This retrospective study was carried from 1^st of January to 30 November 2013 at Zayed Military Hospital Abu Dhabi, UAE. The International Classification of Diseases Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) code is applied to all cases who attended for various types of injuries for data recording. Top five causes were further analyzed. Result. A total number of 2295 cases visited for care of various injuries, 777 were due to different type of falls. Male cases were 505 and 272 were females. Age distribution showed 45% cases were up to 14 years, 51% were between 15 to 64 years old and 4% were above 65 years old. Seventy six cases were admitted in the hospital and remaining were treated on outpatient basis. Conclusion. Falls constitute a very significant percentage of trauma. This is potentially preventable through public awareness and application of safety measures.