The October 2005 Earthquake in Northern Pakistan: Pattern of Injuries in Victims Brought to the Emergency Relief Hospital, Doraha, Mansehra

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 535-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahad Sami ◽  
Fahad Ali ◽  
Syed Habib Haider Zaidi ◽  
Hiba Rehman ◽  
Tashfeen Ahmad ◽  
...  

AbstractObjective:Knowledge of injuries of earthquake victims is important to plan relief efforts. This cross-sectional study was conducted following the 08 October 2005 earthquake in Northern Pakistan to determine the pattern of injuries sustained and their relationship with age and gender in order to identify the medical needs in an earthquake-affected zone.Methods:The study was conducted between 13 October and 23 October 2005 at the Emergency Relief Hospital, Doraha, Mansehra. From the 1,700 patients registered in the hospital, 310 were sampled randomly for the study. Demography and details of the patients' injuries were noted by history and physical examination. Twelve cases were omitted due to incomplete data.Results:Of the cases, 54% were female. Children ≤10 years old formed the largest age group. Isolated bone injuries were present in 41%, soft tissue injuries in 36%, and mixed injuries in 23% of the patients.The most common bone injury was lower limb fracture (52%), while the most common non-bone injury was non-infected, soft tissue wounds on the limbs (33%). Among patients with soft tissue injuries, gangrenous wounds were present in 9%, and grossly infected wounds in 30% (20% on limbs and 10% on rest of the body).Conclusions:The population injured during the earthquake showed a higher proportion of females and children ≤10 years old, and lower limb bone injuries. The data highlight the need to address orthopedic, pediatric, and women's health issues, and for logistic arrangement of relevant diagnostic and therapeutic facilities at the initial stages of relief activities after earthquakes.

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 415-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Quarrie ◽  
Simon Gianotti ◽  
Ian Murphy

Abstract Objectives The Accident Compensation Corporation is a compulsory, 24-h, no-fault personal injury insurance scheme in New Zealand. The purpose of this large-scale retrospective cohort study was to use Accident Compensation Corporation records to provide information about rugby injury epidemiology in New Zealand, with a focus on describing differences in risk by age and gender. Methods A total of 635,657 rugby injury claims were made to the Accident Compensation Corporation for players aged 5–40 years over the period 2005–2017. Information about player numbers and estimates of player exposure was obtained from New Zealand Rugby, the administrative organisation for rugby in New Zealand. Results Over three quarters of claims (76%) were for soft-tissue injuries, with 11% resulting from fractures or dislocations, 6.7% from lacerations, 3.1% from concussions and 2.0% from dental injuries. Body regions injured included shoulder (14%), knee (14%), wrist/hand (13%), neck/spine (13%), head/face (12%), leg (11%) and ankle (10%). The probability of a player making at least one injury claim in a season (expressed as a percentage) was calculated under the assumption that the incidence of claims follows a Poisson distribution. Players aged 5–6 years had a probability of making at least one claim per season of 1.0%, compared to 8.3% for players aged 7–12 years, 35% for age 13–17 years, 53% for age 18–20 years, 57% for age 21–30 years and 47% for age 31–40 years. The overall probability of making at least one claim per season across all age groups was 29%. The relative claim rate for adults (players aged 18 years and over) was 3.92 (90% confidence interval 3.90–3.94) times that of children. Ten percent of players were female, and they sustained 6% of the injuries. Overall, the relative claim rate for female players was 0.57 times that of male players (90% confidence interval 0.56–0.58). The relative claim rate of female to male players tended to increase with age. There were very few female players aged over 30 years; however, those who did play had higher claim rates than male players of the same age group (1.49; 90% confidence interval 1.45–1.53). Conclusions Injuries resulting from rugby are distributed across the body, and most of the claims are for soft-tissue injuries. Rates of injury increase rapidly through the teenage years until the early 20 s; for male players they then decrease until the mid-30 s. For female players, the injury rate does not decrease as players move into their 30 s. Combining Accident Compensation Corporation injury claim data with national player registration data provides useful information about the risks faced by New Zealand’s community rugby players, and the insights derived are used in the development of rugby injury prevention programme content.


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 523-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hainan Yu ◽  
Kristi Randhawa ◽  
Pierre Côté ◽  
Optima Collaboration

Author(s):  
Gideon Mann ◽  
Shay Shabat ◽  
Yonatan Matan ◽  
Y Barak ◽  
Joseph Lowe ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mokgobadibe V. Ntsiea ◽  
Witness Mudzi ◽  
Nicolette Comley-White ◽  
Heleen Van Aswegen ◽  
Benita Olivier ◽  
...  

Background: The healthcare sector requires graduates with the ability to confidently assess and manage the majority of the medical conditions seen in hospitals.Objective: To establish whether the most prevalent medical conditions treated by physiotherapists in Gauteng (South Africa) state health facilities align with the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) physiotherapy curriculum.Methods: This was a retrospective review of condition-related statistics from physiotherapy departments within the Gauteng province state health facilities. Data from all Gauteng government hospitals that had submitted at least 75% of their physiotherapy condition–related statistics to the provincial statistics coordinator from January 2012 to December 2014 were considered and compared to medical conditions covered in the Wits 2015 physiotherapy curriculum to check if all conditions listed in the Gauteng statistics appeared within the Wits curriculum document. The number of teaching hours for the common conditions was noted to check the emphasis given to these conditions in the curriculum.Results: Eighty-three per cent of the hospitals submitted 75% of their monthly statistics. Overall, the most common conditions treated were lower limb fractures (13%) followed by stroke (7.6%) (n = 705 597). Within the neuro-musculoskeletal category, the most common conditions after lower limb fractures were soft tissue injuries (15.1%) (n = 330 511). The most common cardiopulmonary conditions were tuberculosis (24.9%), followed by pneumonia (13.8%) (n = 94 895). The most common neurological conditions were stroke (30.9%) followed by cerebral palsy (17%) (n = 174 024). Within the non-specified categories, the number of intensive care unit (ICU) patients was the highest (23%), followed by sputum induction (21%) (n = 138 187). The most common conditions that were emphasised within the Wits curriculum as indicated by the teaching hours: fractures, 14.5 (66%) of 22 third-year orthopaedics hours; stroke, 30 (73%) of 41 third-year neurology hours; soft tissue injuries, 18 (38%) of 48 fourth-year neuro-musculoskeletal hours; back lesions, 24 (50%) of 48 fourth-year neuro-musculoskeletal hours; and ICU patients, 30 (79%) of 38 fourth-year cardiopulmonary hours.Conclusion: The Wits physiotherapy curriculum covers all medical conditions treated by physiotherapists within the Gauteng state health facilities, and overall, the curriculum prepares the students to practise in a variety of situations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 478
Author(s):  
Gurvansh S. Sachdev ◽  
Manu Rajan ◽  
Sanjay Dvivedi ◽  
Saurabh Agrawal ◽  
Kinnari A. V. Rawat

Background: In the recent era of trauma majority of people suffer from lower limb injuries, which cause functional disabilities and psychosocial consequences. Lower limb injury specially below knee generally involves young and productive people so it is the prime responsibility of the society to prevent such incidents. Our aim is to study clinical profile of various below knee soft tissue injuries to develop better prediction models for defining the most important target for prevention and to reduce morbidities and disabilities.Methods: The study was conducted in the Department of Surgery, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS), Swami Ram Nagar, Dehradun, over a period of 12 months. Subjects were recruited from patients presenting in Emergency/Surgery OPD, HIMS, Dehradun with a primary diagnosis of below knee soft tissue injuries. A total of 64 patients were included in the study.Results: Maximum number of patients were in the age group of 20-40 years (46.88%), and were predominantly males (84.38%). The commonest mode of injury was RTA (75%) primarily involving 2 wheelers (72.91%). Most patients (42.18%) had late presentation to the hospital i.e. after 72 hours of injury which was found to be associated with contamination of wound in 66.6% of patients.Conclusions: The study emphasizes the need for preventive strategies and protection mechanisms for lower limb injuries. Late presenting contaminated wounds leads to higher complication rates hence there is need for efficient ambulance services for ensuring timely intervention.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 398
Author(s):  
Gurvansh S. Sachdev ◽  
Manu Rajan ◽  
Sanjay Dvivedi ◽  
Saurabh Agrawal ◽  
Kinnari A. V. Rawat

Background: Treatment of lower limb injuries pose a great challenge. Debridement is the key to success in the management of major limb injuries followed by soft-tissue coverage in the form of suturing, skin grafts, or flaps. Our aim is to study the management of various below knee soft tissue injuries.Methods: The study was conducted in the Department of Surgery, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS), Swami Ram Nagar, Dehradun, over a period of 12 months. Subjects were recruited from patients presenting in Emergency/Surgery OPD, HIMS, Dehradun with a primary diagnosis of below knee soft tissue injuries. A total of 64 patients were included in the study.Results: Primary closure was done in 6 wounds and coverage in rest, with maximum in the form of split skin graft. Abrasion wounds were managed without any surgical intervention. Reconstructive surgery was performed two or more times in 39.06% patients. Local complications were seen in 23.43% of patients and general complications AKI and Tetanus in 2patients.68.75% of patients with local complications were observed to have contaminated wound status at the time of presentation. The average duration of hospital stays ranged between 3 to 56 days. Majority of the patients were discharged within 1 to 3 weeks with mean duration of hospital stay being 17.82±10.95 days.Conclusions: Proper debridement, early coverage of wounds and prompt identification and management of complications is the key to success in the management of lower limb trauma.


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