Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Medical Statistics, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Injury. 2013 Apr;44(4):475-80. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2012.10.008. Epub 2012 Nov 2.
Hand/finger amputations though rare account for significant disability and health-related costs; yet, information on underlying causes, springing mostly from physicians' reports, is rather anecdotal. We sought to draw attention to the high preventable fraction of hand/finger amputations among adults in Greece.
Data on external cause of injury and short-term outcome, recorded over nine years in the Emergency Department Injury Surveillance System (EDISS) were analysed, whereas sample weights were used for nationwide extrapolations.
Hand/finger injuries accounted for 20.4% (N = 57,986) among 284,705 injuries recorded in patients >14-year-old (3% annual probability); 728 (1.3%) resulted in amputations; the estimated incidence rate (IR) was 39.3/100,000 person-years, reaching a high 92.6/100,000 among males aged 45-64 years. As expected, the vast majority of victims were males (90%), frequently young immigrants; ∼two-thirds sustained occupational injuries during working hours. Objects most frequently involved included: machinery (57% overall/69% occupational), means of transport (10.4%), materials (9.5%), parts of buildings/furniture (5%). Wood-working was the most common risk factor (20% overall/28% occupational) whereas 6% of victims accepted own inattention. 30% of amputations were hospitalised whereas 10% transferred to specialised units.
Specialised registries reveal the magnitude and specific causes of disabling hand injuries and point to tailored national injury prevention programs; specifically in Greece, as they occur in more controlled occupational environments among middle-aged males, woodworkers, and are caused mainly by machinery.
Increased management of safety in the workplace could play a role in reduction in hand amputations.
手部/手指截肢虽然罕见，但会导致严重的残疾和健康相关费用；然而，关于其根本原因的信息主要来自医生的报告，且较为零散。我们旨在引起人们对希腊成年人手部/手指截肢中可预防部分的关注。
对 9 年来急诊伤害监测系统（EDISS）中记录的外伤原因和短期结果数据进行了分析，同时使用样本权重进行了全国范围的外推。
在＞14 岁的 284705 例伤害患者中，手部/手指伤害占 20.4%（N=57986）（3%的年发生率）；728 例（1.3%）导致截肢；估计发病率（IR）为 39.3/100000 人年，在 45-64 岁男性中达到 92.6/100000。不出所料，绝大多数受害者为男性（90%），通常是年轻移民；约三分之二的人在工作时间因职业伤害而受伤。最常涉及的物体包括：机械（总体 57%/职业 69%）、交通工具（10.4%）、材料（9.5%）、建筑物/家具部件（5%）。木工是最常见的危险因素（总体 20%/职业 28%），而 6%的受害者承认自己注意力不集中。30%的截肢需要住院治疗，10%的患者转至专科病房。
专门的登记处揭示了致残性手部伤害的规模和具体原因，并指出了有针对性的国家伤害预防计划；特别是在希腊，由于这些伤害发生在中年男性、木工等更受控制的职业环境中，主要由机械引起。
加强工作场所的安全管理可能在减少手部截肢方面发挥作用。
