Demographic profile and pattern of fatal injuries in Nairobi, Kenya, January–June 2014

Abstract

BackgroundViolence and Injuries are a significant global public health concern characterized by marked regional variation in incidence. Approximately five million people die from injuries each year, accounting 9% of all deaths worldwide. In Kenya, injuries are increasingly becoming a cause of hospital admissions and mortality where they account for 10% of all the deaths. The objective of this study was to determine the magnitude, demographic profile and pattern of fatal injuries in Nairobi.MethodsRetrospective review of death certificates from the Department of Civil Registration was done for deaths caused by injuries that occurred in Nairobi during the period, January to June 2014. Data was collected using a standardized form. Data entry, cleaning and analysis was done using Epi info version 7.0.ResultsA total of 11,443 records were reviewed. From this data, deaths resulting from injuries were 1,208 accounting for 10.6% of all recorded deaths. Majority of the deaths resulting from injuries occurred in persons aged 25 to 44 years (48.1%). Males accounted for 85% of all the injuries. The leading cause of injury was assault by blunt force at 30.5%, followed by road traffic injuries at 25.9% and fire arm injuries at 15%. Pre-hospital deaths accounted for 51.4% of all the deaths. Nineteen percent of the deaths resulting from injuries had autopsies performed on them.ConclusionOur study found that injuries are an important cause of fatality in Nairobi, accounting for one in ten deaths. There is need for multisectoral collaboration as some of the preventive measures that target the most prevalent injuries such as assault and road traffic injuries lie outside the health sector. There exists information gaps on the death certificates hence there is need to adequately capacity build both clinicians and death certifiers. There is also a need to revise the death certificates and to improve the pre-hospital care system for the injured persons.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3958-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Trends in mortality from external causes in the Republic of Seychelles between 1989 and 2018

“…Road traffic injuries were the second leading external cause of mortality in Seychelles, consistent with data from Kenya and South Africa 10,23,29 . Other studies in the region have found road traffic injuries to be one of the leading contributors to mortality, especially among males 8,11,21,22,27,28 , and assault or homicide in Kenya and South Africa 10,23,29,30 . Nearly two thirds of those killed in the road traffic environment were aged 15-44 years in Seychelles, with a peak at the age of 15-29 years, as previously reported 2,6 .…”

Epidemiological profile of injuries in urban and urban slum areas of Rajkot city, India: a community based study

“…Studies from other countries also reported that RTAs were more common in males. 17,18 Risk to injuries due to RTAs remains high in males because in Indian society males being the earning members of family are subjected to work related stress and more exposure to outside environment as compared to females. 19 Hence there is need to carry out further research to explore pattern and causes of falls and RTAs, so that more appropriate preventive measures can be developed.…”

First Aid Practices for Injured Children in Rural Ghana: A Cluster-Random Population-Based Survey

“…In Kenya, 51% of injury deaths occurred in the prehospital period, while in Ghana, 80% of all injury deaths occurred in the field before the victim could get to the hospital. 3,4 The importance of prehospital care in reducing out-of-hospital death for the injured is well-established. [5][6][7] However, many LMICs continue to lack efficient Emergency Medical Services (EMS) or ambulance systems.…”