Injuries related to animal sacrifice during the Feast of Sacrifice in Turkey

BACKGROUND: The Feast of Sacrifice is a significant annual religious festival in Muslim countries. In these festivals, thousands of animals are usually sacrificed by inexperienced individuals. Thus, many injuries occur during sacrificing of animals. OBJECTIVES: Describe injuries related to animal sacrifice or meat processing. DESIGN: Cross-sectional descriptive study. SETTINGS: Three hospitals in different cities of Turkey. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Severity and type of injuries that occur during animal sacrifice or meat processing after the sacrifice and hospital costs. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Identification and classification of sacrifice related injuries. SAMPLE SIZE: 301 injured individuals. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 42.5 (14.8) years and 83.1% of the subjects were male. Most (90.0%) injuries were penetrating injuries and 10.0% were blunt traumas. Upper and lower extremity injuries were identified in 77.4% and 17.9% of cases, respectively. Almost half of the injuries were on the left hand (49.8%). Almost all (96.6%) cases were treated and discharged from emergency services. Median hospital cost per patient was 103.14 Turkish Liras (35.95-852.66 Turkish Liras) (19.53 USD [6.80-161.48 USD]). CONCLUSIONS: Even though injuries related to animal sacrifice are usually caused by minor sharp objects, they can be severe and life threatening on rare occasions. To minimize the injuries that may occur during this period, public education and more convenient sacrifice centers may be helpful. LIMITATIONS: Small sample, single country, and short duration of the study. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.