The severity of fall injuries in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: fall injuries constitute a major public health concern worldwide, contributing to over 646,000 deaths every year. The aim of this study was to determine the nature and severity of fall injuries at a tertiary hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). METHODS: we conducted a cross-sectional study at the King Khalid Hospital and Prince Sultan Centre for Health Care in Al Kharj. We recruited the patients and followed them through the triage, admission and discharge processes. We analyzed the participant´s clinical notes on the electronic health record (EHR) to obtain information relevant to the study, including the nature, cause, mechanism of injury, demographic characteristics and prognostic factors captured through the injury severity score (ISS), the Glasgow coma scale (GCS) and the presence or absence of shock. RESULTS: of 264 patients, most of the patients were children under the age of ten (25.7%), followed by young adults between the ages of twenty-one and thirty (18.2%). The ISS was associated with severe head, chest, skull, brain, scalp, rib, abdominal, pelvic and lower limb injuries. The GCS was associated with severe the head, chest, skull, brain and rib injuries (p<0.005). The degree of shock was also significantly associated with pelvic, head, chest, skull, brain, scalp, abdominal and upper limb injuries (p<0.05). Conclusion: fall injuries in our setting are severe. Training of staff should prioritize head, chest, skull, brain, abdominal and rib injury management. As a reference hospital, minor injuries are more likely to be managed at lower levels of care.