Injury Profile in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Implications for Prevention

Abstract

Background: Prevention and control of injuries require generating relevant information on the magnitude, characteristics and determinants of injuries.
Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics of injuries and predict the severity of injury with other variables.
Design: A cross – sectional descriptive study was conducted at the hospitals of KwaZulu – Natal. Information was gathered from a total of 428 injured patients randomly selected from hospital attendances. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors for severity of injury.
Results: Over 60% of injury victims were below the age of 30 years. The economically active group (21 – 60 years) also constituted about 60% of injury victims. Over half of the victims reported that the scene of incidence was private house, yard and road. One fifth was transport related injury whereas majority was violence (50%). Unintentional injury was 28.8%. Most of the injuries were minor (42.3%) to moderate (41.1%) in severity. Odds Ratio for alcohol related violence was 11.
Conclusion: In order to reduce injuries appropriate multisectoral interventions, broader policies and strategies, regulating transport and alcohol use, routine testing of alcohol to identify the problem-drinkers for rehabilitation. Interventions should also include health education and health promotion and law enforcement.


Keywords: Injury, violence, transport, alcohol, severity

Orient Journal of Medicine Vol. 19 (1-4) 2007: pp. 56-40