Hand Injuries in Finland

Abstract

The study is based on patients with hand injuries treated in the casualty department of Turku University Central Hospital during the years 1971-75 and 1978; there were 4 800 of these patients annually. Hand injuries accounted for 26% of all accidents. Of these patients, 14% were younger than 15, 78% were of working age and only 8% were over 65. Of the adult patients, 3/5 were men. The average age of the men was 35 and of the women 45. Calculated on the basis of our material, the annual number of hand injuries requiring medical attention in Finland was 33 000/10(6) inhabitants. Most hand injuries among adults, 70%, occurred in the home, 28% at work and only some 3% in road accidents. Lacerations of varying degrees of severity constituted 45% of the injuries, fractures 26% and lesser contusions, excoriations and distortions 20%. There were relatively few serious injuries, e.g. 2% of the cases were nerve and tendon lesions; however, the actual workload caused by these injuries was considerable.

Study on Evaluation and Management of Hand Injuries

“…In this study, 12% had a hand injury in combination with other injuries, which was in contrast with another study in which 4% had combined injuries. 11 In our study, about 2.5% sustained injury to both hands. A 2% rate of injury to both hands has previously been reported.…”

The practice of plastic surgery in emergency trauma surgery: a retrospective glance at 10,732 patients

“…[5,8,9] Though we found the rate of isolated tendon cuts to be 27%, it has been reported to be much lower, ranging from 2 to 5% in various studies. [5,9] In one study, it was reported that 2% of the cases with hand injuries should be referred to a clinic for treatment, and the rate of tendon incisions was reported to increase up to 29% among these cases.…”

“…[5] In studies regarding emergency upper extremity injuries, male predominance has been found as 60-62% [8,9] and 82%, [5] while it was 81% among our cases.…”

Retrospective Analysis of Patients Whose Plastic Surgery Consultations Requested were in a University Hospital Emergency Room

“…Nowadays, hand injury patients compose 20% of the patients referring to the emergency department because of trauma. (8). Upper extremity injuries are more common especially among males.…”