Analysis of the severity in adult patients with fall injuries at industrial and construction sites in Korea

Objective@#This study analyzes the severity of fall injuries that occur during work at industrial and construction sites in Korea, and presents data for future policies on industrial accident damage prevention. @*Methods@#Data of patients with injuries who were admitted to the emergency room were scrutinized. The final analysis included adult patients aged >19 years who suffered fall injuries during work at industrial and construction sites from 2011 to 2020. @*Results@#Severity of the fall injury was analyzed in 16,795 patients. Among the 16,211 men and 584 women included in the study, severe injuries were determined in 5,776 (35.6%) and 142 (24.3%) subjects, respectively. The highest number of falls was observed between 12 pm and 6 pm (8,012 cases), whereas the highest rate of severe fall injury occurred between 6 pm and 12 am (37.5%). The most common injury sites were the head and neck, which also had the highest rates of severe injury (58.5%). Most patients were transferred to general wards (5,709 patients) after receiving treatment in the emergency department. The analysis of 5,111 patients with fall injuries registered in the in-depth analysis data of six hospitals showed that the rate of severe injuries was higher in patients who fell on concrete floors. @*Conclusion@#Increased rate of severe injury was obtained in the male gender and was associated with age, working hours, and alcohol consumption. Additionally, the rate of severe injury was higher in patients with head, neck, and chest injuries, who underwent emergency surgery, and fell on concrete floors.

Severe Injuries from Low-height Falls in the Elderly Population

BACKGROUND: Falls from low-height can cause severe injuries in the elderly population. This study was conducted to determine characteristics of injuries from low-height falls. METHODS: We retrospectively review surveillance data on injured patients who presented to six emergency departments from January 2011 to December 2015. Study subjects were divided into severe group and non-severe group based on severity of injury. The general and clinical characteristics were compared between the two groups and analyzed factors related with severe injuries. RESULTS: Of 1,190 elderly patients, severe group comprised 82 patients (7%). The severe group was 2 years younger than the non-severe group. In the severe group, 61% was men and 34% in the non-severe group. In the non-severe, the injuries more commonly occurred at residential facilities and indoors than those in the severe group. Paid work during injury occurrence was 15%, and the more patients presented with non-alert consciousness in the severe group. The most common regions of major injury were head and neck in the severe group. CONCLUSION: Paid work, non-alert consciousness, and major injury to head and neck are relating factors to severe injuries in the elderly population.

Epidemiologic Characteristics of Intentional Poisoning: Emergency Department Based Injury in-depth Surveillance During 2011–2015

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiologic characteristics of patients who visited emergency departments (EDs) after intentional poisoning in Korea. METHODS: This study retrospectively analyzed the data of of 23 hospitals during a five-year period, between 2011 and 2015. We included patients who inflicted injury to themselves - attempt of suicide - by means of poisoning. RESULTS: A total of 18,121 patients visited an ED after intentional poisoning. Among them, 58.3% were females; however, there were more males among those aged 60 years or older. The mortality rate for males was 8.6%, which was 3.1 times higher than that for females with 2.8%. The most common poison was pesticides (35.4%) in males and sedative-hypnotics (44.0%) in females. The most common causative agent of death was pesticide in both sexes (75.2% and 65.3%, respectively). Since the production of paraquat was discontinued in 2011, the number of deaths from pesticide poisoning has decreased. The mortality rate declined in both males and females, from 12.6% and 4.5% in 2011 to 7.1% and 2.1% in 2015, respectively. CONCLUSION: In this study, we analyzed the epidemiologic characteristics of intentional poisoning, especially the frequency of suicide attempts by gender and age group, the cause of suicide, and the causative agent. This can be used as basic data for establishing policies to reduce and prevent suicide attempts by poisoning.