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Current changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates

BACKGROUND: Falls in the Gulf countries are the second most common cause of injuries. The United Arab Emirates government implemented various preventive measures to decrease injuries in the country. We aimed to evaluate the changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in Al-Ain City over the...

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Autores principales: Cevik, Arif Alper, Alao, David O., Eid, Hani O., Grivna, Michal, Abu-Zidan, Fikri M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8445427/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34529683
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257398
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author Cevik, Arif Alper
Alao, David O.
Eid, Hani O.
Grivna, Michal
Abu-Zidan, Fikri M.
author_facet Cevik, Arif Alper
Alao, David O.
Eid, Hani O.
Grivna, Michal
Abu-Zidan, Fikri M.
author_sort Cevik, Arif Alper
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Falls in the Gulf countries are the second most common cause of injuries. The United Arab Emirates government implemented various preventive measures to decrease injuries in the country. We aimed to evaluate the changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in Al-Ain City over the last decade. METHODS: Data of hospitalized patients who presented with fall-related injuries to the Al-Ain Hospital during the two periods of March 2003 to March 2006 and January 2014 to December 2017 were compared. This included patients’ demographics, mechanism, location, anatomical distribution and parameters related to injury severity. Non-parametric tests were used for the statistical analysis. RESULTS: 882 in the first and 1358 patients in the second period were studied. The incidence of falls decreased by 30.5% over ten years. The number of elderly, female patients, and UAE nationals increased, (p < 0.001, p = 0.004, and p < 0.001). Falls from height decreased by 32.5% (p < 0.001) while fall on the same level increased by 22.5% (p < 0.001). Fall-related injuries at home have increased significantly by 22.6% (p <0.001), while falls in workplaces decreased by 24.4% (p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that the overall incidence of falls decreased compared to a decade ago. The preventive measures were effective in reducing falls from height and workplace injuries. Future preventive measures should target falls at the same level and homes.
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spelling pubmed-84454272021-09-17 Current changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates Cevik, Arif Alper Alao, David O. Eid, Hani O. Grivna, Michal Abu-Zidan, Fikri M. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Falls in the Gulf countries are the second most common cause of injuries. The United Arab Emirates government implemented various preventive measures to decrease injuries in the country. We aimed to evaluate the changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in Al-Ain City over the last decade. METHODS: Data of hospitalized patients who presented with fall-related injuries to the Al-Ain Hospital during the two periods of March 2003 to March 2006 and January 2014 to December 2017 were compared. This included patients’ demographics, mechanism, location, anatomical distribution and parameters related to injury severity. Non-parametric tests were used for the statistical analysis. RESULTS: 882 in the first and 1358 patients in the second period were studied. The incidence of falls decreased by 30.5% over ten years. The number of elderly, female patients, and UAE nationals increased, (p < 0.001, p = 0.004, and p < 0.001). Falls from height decreased by 32.5% (p < 0.001) while fall on the same level increased by 22.5% (p < 0.001). Fall-related injuries at home have increased significantly by 22.6% (p <0.001), while falls in workplaces decreased by 24.4% (p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that the overall incidence of falls decreased compared to a decade ago. The preventive measures were effective in reducing falls from height and workplace injuries. Future preventive measures should target falls at the same level and homes. Public Library of Science 2021-09-16 /pmc/articles/PMC8445427/ /pubmed/34529683 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257398 Text en © 2021 Cevik et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Cevik, Arif Alper
Alao, David O.
Eid, Hani O.
Grivna, Michal
Abu-Zidan, Fikri M.
Current changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates
title Current changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates
title_full Current changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates
title_fullStr Current changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates
title_full_unstemmed Current changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates
title_short Current changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in Al Ain City, United Arab Emirates
title_sort current changes in the epidemiology of fall-related injuries in al ain city, united arab emirates
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8445427/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34529683
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257398
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