Trauma in the elderly, needing more attention

Background: Trauma is the ninth cause of death in the elderly aged 65 or older. The elderly population comprises the largest group of patients with trauma. This study aimed at investigating the causes of trauma in this growing age group.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, medical records of all elderly traumatic patients admitted to Poursina Hospital, Rasht, Guilan were reviewed. Necessary data were gathered using a checklist including demographic characteristics, underlying diseases, mechanism, time and location of trauma as well as injury area, admission GCS, length of hospitalization, surgery, ICU admission and outcome. The data were analyzed by SPSS (version 18) using Chi square and t-test.Results: Of 1830 hospitalized traumatic patient records entered in this study, 1031 (56.3%) were men and 799 (43.7%) were women (mean age=71.1 years, SD=8.3 years old). The most common causes of trauma were falling (51.6%) and road traffic accident (40.4%). 54.8% of the trauma cases occurred in home. The most frequent time of incidents was afternoon (31.1%). Head and neck (48%) followed by lower extremities (38.5%) were the most injured sites, respectively. The mean length of hospitalization in patients younger than 75 years, between 75 and 90 and over 90 years of age were 2.79±4.50, 3.46±28.5 and 3.21±3.82 days, respectively. 7.3% of patients died. Conclusion: Falling is the most frequent cause of trauma especially in home. Therefore, developing educational programs for this group as well as interventions for safer environment at home are recommended.

کلیدواژه ها:

epidemiology ، trauma ، the elderly ، falling ، road accidents