Citation

Ahmed E, Chaka T. Ethiop. Med. J. 2006; 44(2): 175-181.

Affiliation

Orthopedic Surgeon, P.O. Box 8530, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. eliasor2003@yahoo.com

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Ethiopian Medical Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

17447381

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To describe the nature of hand injuries among patients seen in a referral teaching hospital in Addis Ababa. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All six hundred and two patients with a total of 621 injured hands seen at the emergency out patient department of Tikur Anbessa University Hospital over a one- year period, May 1, 2003 - April 30, 2004 were evaluated and findings documented and analyzed. RESULTS: of the 602 patients, 511 (84.9%) were males and 91 (15.1%) females. The mean age was 28.3 years (males 28.8 years and females 25.4 years). The majority of the injuries 488 (81.1%) occurred either in a factory, on a street, at home or at a construction site. The commonest causes included machine accidents 195 (32.4%), followed by crushing 95 (15.8%), road traffic accidents 83 (13.8%) and injury from a sharp object 80 (13.4%). Fifty six percent of all the patients (336/602) had been injured at work, of whom 156 of 195 (80.0%) had been working with an unguarded machine. Fifteen of those injured 195 (7.7%) had suffered a previous machine injury. Work related hand injuries occurred more often among manual workers 77.7% (261/336). Three hundred and seven of the 621 injured hands had one or more fractures (49.4%), 233 a severe soft tissue injury (37.5%), 126 an amputation (20.3%), 40 a dislocation (6.4%), and 34 (5.5%) foreign bodies in the hands. Four hundred and sixty five (77.2%) arrived within eight hours of the injury, and this included the majority of those most severely injured. CONCLUSION: It is suggested that the provision of adequate safety guards on industrial machines, and their use, would significantly reduce the number of severe hand injuries occurring in Addis Ababa.

Language: en