Epidemiology of facial fractures in post traumatic cases and outcomes of management

The study was done to analyze the circumstances under which males and females are injured, to identify gender-specific patterns of injury, to assess whether differences in the demographics, health status profile exist between female and male trauma cases, and to correlate the severity of facial fractures with outcomes of management. A cohort of 193 facial trauma cases was considered in this study. Information was gathered by retrospective review of cases requiring admission for facial injuries resulting from various causes. Fisher exact, x2, and t tests were used to assess statistically significant differences between the male and female cohorts.

The female cohort comprised 11.29% of all cases and the male cohort comprised of 88.70% of all cases admitted for facial trauma. One third of female facial trauma patients were svictimes of domestic violence. Statistically significant differences were found between males and females for the type of assault (domestic violence, altercation, etc) with P, .0001. Females were more likely to be admitted with soft tissue injury only but no fracture (P, .05), less likely to be assaulted with a weapon, and unlikely to be involved in an altercation, gang violence, arrest, or robbery. Incidence of specific injury patterns and outcomes, however, were similar between the two groups. While 124 patients were managed with definitive procedures, conservative management was instituted for the rest.