Accident trauma--a descriptive hospital study.

The study was conducted at the casualty department of Government General Hospital, Madras, South India. Accident trauma patients, 1906, have attended the above department during a continuous period of one month round the clock and accounted for 15.3% of the total attendance of patients to the casualty department. Of those brought to hospital following accident trauma 1.8% were dead, 35.1% were due to road traffic accidents, 21.7% to household accidents and 20.9% to occupational accidents. Of the accident traumas 46.9% occurred in the age group 21-40 years. Males accounted for 80% of the patients. Injuries involving lower extremities accounted for 35.4% of the total injuries; head injuries accounted for 29.5%. Of the injuries 5.8% were life threatening, 7.4% severely disabling, 35.9% disabling and the rest were trivial injuries.