Abstract

AIM/BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the etiological and demographical characteristics of people applying to the Adult Emergency Department of the Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, Adana, due to home accidents in 2006.
METHODS: This retrospective and descriptive study covered the records of the Adult Emergency Department regarding home accident casualties in a period of one year between January 1st and December 31st, 2006. Age and gender of casualties, type of accident, body locations affected, seasonal distribution of accidents and prognostic measures taken were evaluated.
RESULTS: Among 22.365 applications to the Adult Emergency Department 840 (3.8%) were due to accidents and 209 (0.9%) were due to home accidents. Male to female ratio for home accidents was found to be 96 (45.9%) to 113 (54.1%). The mean age of the cases was calculated as 36.1±18.8 years, with no difference between males (33.4±17.4) and females (38.4±19.7) (p=0.053). The main type of accidents was found to be falls (11 cases with 5.3%), followed by incisions (61 cases with 29.3%), burns (32 cases with 15.3%), hand-caughts (11 cases with 5.3%) and others (20 cases with 9.5%). The falls were found to be statistically more prevalent in the elderly compared to 14-64 years age group (p=0.001). The summer was the season with the highest frequency of home accidents (p

Key words: Emergency, home accidents, elderly, falls.

Article Language: Turkish English