A retrospective study on the profile of long bone injuries in trauma patients presenting to emergency department

Abstract

Background: Trauma is one of the major causes of long bone injuries in India. This study was done to improve the understanding of the mode of trauma, type of injury and severity and outcome of trauma victims with long bone injuries in our hospital. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of all trauma patients aged 18 years or more with long bone injuries presenting to our emergency department. Details of the incident, injuries, management, and outcome were noted. Results: We received a total of 2207 trauma patients during the 4-month study period with 14.31% (316/2207) being adult patients with long bone injuries. Male (71.8%) predominance were noted. The mean age was 45.7 (±17.9) years. Road traffic accident (68.35%) was the most common mechanism of the incident followed by slip and fall (20.56%). Majority of patients (43.98%) came during 15.00–22.00 h. The most common long bone injured was the tibia in the young (51.68%)- and middle-aged (58%) patients. In the elderly, femur (58.19%) was the most common bone involved. Head injury accounted for 13% of the associated injuries. Among these 316 trauma patients 186 were admitted, 105 (57.37%) patients had to undergo an emergency operation on the same day of arrival, whereas 78 (42.62%) patients were managed conservatively in the wards or had an elective surgery done at a later date. Conclusions: The tibia is the most common long bone injured in young adults, whereas the femur is the most common in the elderly. Prevention, education, legislative enforcement, and prehospital management and transportation of trauma-inflicted patients would impact immensely on the health of the people.