Publication:

Demographic profile of facial fractures in the Punjab population: a pilot study

Background Trauma units of tertiary care centers of the north Indian state of Punjab are occupied with young individuals with a passion for driving on full acceleration. There is therefore a high rate of road traffic accidents with and fractures of the facial skeleton are frequently noted .This is noted more so in the male gender.

Methods A retrospective study of the records of 61 subjects admitted under Otolaryngology and Maxillofacial trauma units, during a period of 2 years (August 2013-August 2015) at Dayanand Medical College and hospital were analysed.

Results Males outnumbered the females in the ratio of 5:1. Maximum, 54% were seen in the age group 21-30 years and minimum at the extremes of age. The commonest cause of fracture was road-side accidents which was observed in 72% of patients. In 15% these were due to assaults, in 8% due to falls and only in 3.2% due to sports injury.

Conclusions Facial fractures are recorded more in middle aged males with vehicular trauma being the main aetiology.