Epidemiological Characteristics of Fatal Traumatic Accidents in Babol, Iran: A Hospital-Based Survey

Abstract

Objective: To determine the epidemiological characteristics of fatal traumatic accidents in patients referred to a hospital in Babol, Northern Iran.Methods: Thiswas a cross-sectionalstudy being performed during a 1-year period including all the dead trauma patients referred to ShahidBeheshtiHospital of Babol. We included all those patients who were transferred to our center to trauma and injuries and passed away during the hospital stay. Those who dieddue toelectrical shock, drowningandsuffocationcaused byhangingsandpoisoningwereexcluded from the study.Demographic information such as age, sex, marital status, education, employment, the type, location, and time of injury, injured parts of body and treatment methods, the cause, location and time of death were recorded.Results: From the 92 dead patients, 76were men(82.6%) and16were women (17.4%). The cause of deathin 53 cases (57.6%) washead injury. Regarding the location,30patients (32.6%) diedat thesceneof the accident,62(67.4%) diedin the hospital. The maximum rateof trauma occurredin the afternoon shiftbetween the hours of13:30 to 19:30.The headand facewere themost damaged organs.Road traffic accidents were the most common cause of injury related mortality recordedin 81 patients (88.0%). Most of the accidentsoccurredinintercity roads in 27 people (33.3%) and the others inrural-urbanroads. Pedestrianswere the most common victims of road traffic accidents mortality being reported in 29 people (35.8%).Conclusion: Road traffic accidents are among the most common cause of injury related mortality in our region. Increasing the public knowledge and improve the traffic law enforcement measures should be considered for decreasing the morbidity and mortality.