Citation

Al B, Yildirim C, Coban S. Ulus. Travma Acil Cerrahi Derg. 2009; 15(2): 141-147.

Affiliation

Department of Emergency Medicine, Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep, Turkey. behcetal@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Ulusal Travma ve Acil Cerrahi Dernegi)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

19353316

Abstract

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the demographic data, mortality rates, fall causes, and post-mortem findings of individuals who fell from heights. METHODS: Five hundred thirty-eight patients who sustained injuries after an accidental fall from heights were entered into the study. Our cases were collected prospectively in Batman over a seven- month period. RESULTS: The mean age was 12.4+/-3.22 years (3 months-98 years); 56.5% of patients were under 6 years old and 83.5% were under 20 years old. The mean fall height was 3.2+/-2.4 m. The mortality rate was 2.2%, and was highest among the patients who fell from flat-roofed houses. The most common injuries were to the head, and 100% of those who died had a head injury. Six patients were followed because of abdominal bleeding and 141 patients due to extremity fractures; 6.7% of patients were operated on and 83.8% of patients were treated in the emergency department. CONCLUSION: The results of this study were at variance with literature data with respect to the following: falls from heights were most common in the 0-5 years of age group. Craniocerebral trauma is the most common injury in fatal falls. Males had a higher rate of falls from height than females.

Language: en