The Evaluation of Injures Caused by Falling According to Forensic Medicine
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17986/blm.2007122637Keywords:
falling, height, life threatening, glasgow coma scoreAbstract
Falls are one of the leading causes of admission to emergency and deaths. There is more than one classification of the falls. In this study we classified falls according to height of the falls: High level (>5 meters) and low level (<5 meters). We didn’t include flat ground falls to our study. In this study, we reviewed 1218 fall cases retrospectively between January 2000 to December 2004 including 779 men and 439 women whose average age is 22.2 + 22.9 (the youngest is 1 age and the oldest is 95 age) years at Firat Medical Center. Nine hundred twenty seven of these cases are low level falls and 213 are high level falls. Of these falls, the level of the fall was not specified in 78 cases. The cases are evaluated according to the sex, age, age groups, the level of fall, simple medical intervention, life threatening, Glasgow Coma Score (GKS), injured body part, mortality and monthly timeframe. Sex and age differences are not significant according to the high and low level fallings (p = 0.1). 37.6% of high level falls are lile threatening compared to 20.4% of low level falls (p=0.0001). Similarly the Glasgow Coma Scores were poorer in high level falls compared to low level falls. The falls are most prevalent among children (59.2%) and lower among adults (32.7%) and elderly (8.1%). We conclude that the falls should be handled with care because of mortality and morbidity risk and burden to health system. It is often seen at childhood therefore the families have to be educated for preventive measures. Also, it is necessary to take some security precautions at the windows and balconies.
Keywords: Falling, height, life threatening, glasgow coma score.
Downloads
References
Beale JP, Wyatt JP, Beard D, Busuttil A and Graham CA. A five year study of high falls in Edinburgh. Injury 2000;31:503-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0020-1383(00)00034-6
Tait H, Brazeau-Meahen K. Injuries and serius: The Canadian Contex. Statistics. Canada:Ottowa, 1993.
Baker SP, Harve AH. Fall injuries in elderly. Clin Geriatr Med 1985;1:501-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-0690(18)30920-0
Lallier M, Bouchard S, St-Vil D, Dupont J, Tucci M. Falls from heights among children: A retrospective review. Journal of Pediatric Surgery 1999;34(7): 1060-63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3468(99)90564-X
Wang Michael Y, Anthony Kim K, Griffith Pamela M, Summers S, Gordon McComb J, Levy Michael L, Hossein Mahour G. Injuries from falls in the pediatric population: An analysis of 729 cases. Journal of Pediatric Surgery 2001;36(10):1528-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1053/jpsu.2001.27037
Mosenthal Anne C. Falls: Epidemiology and strategies for prevention. J Trauma 1995;38:753-56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00005373-199505000-00013
Crawley T. Childhood injury: Significance and prevention strategies. J Pediatr Nurs 1996;11:225-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0882-5963(96)80095-9
Richter D. Vertical deceleration injuries: A comparative study of the injury patterns of 101 patients after accidental and intentional falls. Injury 1996;27:655-59. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0020-1383(96)00083-6
Chadwick DL. Deaths from falls in children: How far is fatal? J Trauma 1991;31:1353-55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00005373-199110000-00006
Greenberg MI. Falls from heights. JACEP 1978;7:300-301. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0361-1124(78)80192-0
Mirzai H, Yağlı N, Tekin İ. Celal Bayar Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi acil birimine başvuran kafa travmalı olguların epidemiyolojik ve klinik özellikleri. Ulusal Travma Dergisi 2005;146-152.
Kraus JF, Black MA, Hessol N, et al. The incidence of acute brain injury and serious impairment in a defined population. Am J Epidemiol 1980;119:186-201. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113737
Kleiven S, Peloso PM, Von Hollst H. The epidemiology of head injuries in Sweden from 1987 to 2000. Injury Control and Safety Promotion 2003;10:173-80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1076/icsp.10.3.173.14552
McSwain NE and Shaftan GW, Blunt trauma after vertical deceleration. Postgrad. Surg 1990;2:140-145.
Gören S, Subaşı M, Tıraşçı Y, Gürkan F. Fatal falls from heights in and around Diyarbakır, Turkey. Forensic Science International 2003;137:37-40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0379-0738(03)00285-8
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
The Journal and content of this website is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) License. The Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) allows users to copy, distribute and transmit an article, adapt the article and make commercial use of the article. The CC BY license permits commercial and non-commercial re-use of an open access article, as long as the author is properly attributed.
