TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2008//
TI  - Incidence of physical injuries in a rural community in Sri Lanka: results of the first community survey in Sri Lanka
JO  - Indian journal of community medicine
A1  - Lamawansa, Md
A1  - Piyathilake, A.
SP  - 238
EP  - 242
VL  - 33
IS  - 4
N2  - BACKGROUND: Injuries account for approximately 11% of all hospital admissions in Sri Lanka. However, no published data are available with regard to the community incidence of injuries in Sri Lanka. OBJECTIVES: To determine the community incidence of major intentional and unintentional physical injuries in a rural community in Sri Lanka. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A rural community consisting of 225 families with 1029 inhabitants was studied. Data on major injuries for a period of one year were collected retrospectively. RESULTS: There were 85 major injuries in the community during the year of study. This gives a major injury incidence of 82.6 per 1000 person years. This is three times the incidence based on hospital-derived data. Animal bites being the most common cause of injury was noted in 2.3% of the population followed by falls in 1.6%, contact with objects in 1.5%, cut injuries in 1% and road trauma in 1%. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows a higher incidence of major physical injuries (both intentional and unintentional) in the community than figures derived from hospital data. The prevention of injuries in a community such as the one studied here should be aimed at animal bites, falls, contacts with objects, cut injuries and road trauma.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0970-0218
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0970-0218.43229
ID  - ref1
ER  -