Epidemiology of isolated hand injuries in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

AIMTo provide suggestions for hand injury prevention by study the demography and risk factors of casualties suffering from isolated hand injuries.METHODSAll trauma patients with isolated hand injuries who were admitted to Al Ain Hospital for more than 24 h during a period of 3 years were studied. Patient demographics, location, mechanism/time of injury, and length of hospital stay were all analyzed.RESULTSTwo hundred and ten patients were studied. Their mean age was 29.7 years. Males constituted 92%. Sixty-five point one percent of all cases were from the Indian subcontinent. The workplace was the most common location of injury (67.1%), followed by the home (17.1%) and road (6.2%). Machinery caused 36.2% of all injuries, followed by heavy object (20.5%) and fall (11%). Cases injured at home were young (P < 0.0001) with an associated higher incidence of females (P < 0.0001).CONCLUSIONMale workers in Al Ain city are at greater risk of sustaining hand injuries, predominantly from machinery. Safety education, personal protection, and the enforcement of safety standards are essential to the prevention and avoidance of hand injury.

Traumatic Hand Injuries presenting to Orthopedic Unit of a Regional Referral Hospital, Oman

“…Fall of heavy objects and machine injury were leading causes for hand injury in our study which is same as reported by other authors [2,4,6] . Major risk factors for occupational hand injuries were malfunctioning equipment, working overtime, distraction, rush to finish job, lack of protective measures, inexperience, inattention and unfamiliarity with the job allotted [7,8] .…”

“…In all expatriate male patients injuries occurred at place of work in contrast to Omani nationals where injuries predominantly were due to other causes not related to work place. The percentage of hand injuries and number of males in our study was lower as compared to other studies [1,4,5] . Work place related injuries among young males (21-40 years) accounted for majority of injuries followed by injuries sustained at home by women and children.…”

“…Violence related injuries were not observed in our study in contrast to 10.8% violence (gunshot) related hand injuries by Ihekine et al [5] Camel bites (2.2%) were the only reported animal bites related hand injuries seen which is also reported by other authors from this region [4] . The digits were the most affected site of injury with Little and ring fingers being most affected in comparison to other studies where Index and Middle fingers are most affected [6,9] .…”

“…In this part of world with fast infrastructure development and lot of construction related activities where large number of expatriate workers are employed. Injury remains by far the second main cause of fatalities at 27.3 per 100,000 persons per year [4] . Very little literature is available on hand injuries in this region.…”

“…Work place related injuries among young males (21-40 years) accounted for majority of injuries followed by injuries sustained at home by women and children. Majority of women sustained sharp knife / glass injuries whereas door entrapment injuries were found in children thereby highlighting the importance of safe home environment and education for prevention of such injuries [4,6] .…”