Prevalence and associated factors for assault injuries among trauma patients at Mulago Hospital. Cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Injuries and violence are of major health problem. Although the incidence of assault and other violent crime is increasing in Uganda, the prevalence and overall pattern of injury, and the need for admission have not been defined in adult victims who attend Mulago National Referral Hospital (MNRH). Broad objective: To determine the prevalence, patterns and associated factors of assault injuries among trauma patients at MNRH. Methods: This was a hospital based cross sectional study among trauma patients attending the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department of MNRH from December 2019 to January 2020. All trauma patients were randomly enrolled into the study and data was collected using a pretested questionnaire and later entered into Epi-data software version 3.1. Data was then exported to STATA statistical software version 14 for cleaning and analysis. Results: A total of 377 trauma patients aged 3-69 years with a median age of 28 years IQR (2269) were recruited. There were 326 (86.5%) male patients. The prevalence of trauma due to assault was 29.7% (95%CI: 25.29%-34.53%) but the main cause of trauma was road traffic accidents at 62.6% (95%CI: 57.58%-67.36%). Injuries on assaulted patients were mainly on the head 72(64.3%), followed by face 39(34.8%) and Limbs 28(25.0%). Being female was less likely to be associated with assault injuries compared to being male among trauma patients (aPR= 0.134, 95%CI: 0.03-0.55, p-value= 0.006). Assault injuries happened almost twice in night hours than during day hours (aPR= 1.706, p-value= 0.006). Conclusion and recommendation: 3 in every 10 trauma patients admitted at Accident and Emergency were due to assault injuries. The majority of the assault injuries sustained involved the head, face and limb. Future studies of assault injuries should focus on evaluating various preventive strategies that can be instituted at home and work places to reduce the incidence and associated impact of such injuries.