ORIGINAL ARTICLE JPOA 60 Epidemiology of Trauma Patients Presenting to Orthopaedic Department in A Tertiary Care Hospital Riaz Ahmed, Junaid Khan, Kanza Batool, Hashim Riaz, Rahman Rasool, Zahid Hafeez ABSTRACT Objective: To record the epidemiological statistics of orthopaedic trauma patients presenting to a major trauma center of Pakistan. Methods: In this descriptive study, 5527 patients who presented to the emergency of Orthopaedics department of Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi from January 2015 to January 2016 were included. Those who presented with serious injuries associated with trauma fulfilled the criteria. Results: Out of 5527 patients, 3002(54.31%) were males and 2525(45.68%) were females with male to female ratio of 1.19:1. Lower limb fractures were found in 2516(45.52%) patients as compared to upper limb fractures, which only occurred in 1625(29.40%) of the patients. Most of the patients who presented with fractures belonged to the age group of 21-30 years. Motorcycle accident victims made up 34.20% of the total 5527 patients under study, making it the leading cause of trauma admissions. A rise was seen in patients presenting due to trauma during summer season (April-September) with their incidence 60.29% as compared to those admitted during winter season in which the incidence decreased to 39.71%. 2534 (45.85%) patients out of total 5527 patients were discharged on the same day of admission. Conclusion: We conclude that preventive measures based upon these statistics can help to plan out strategies, which will not only reduce the trauma incidence if implemented on a national level but also guide regarding allocation of resources, which will benefit the patient in long run. Key words: Epidemiology, trauma, tertiary care hospital INTRODUCTION Afflictions induced by musculoskeletal injuries has made them the most common cause of physical and social impairment with the increased life expectancy further contributing to the rise in trauma admissions to orthopaedic department [1]. Trauma has become a malignant epidemic worldwide with more burden on the developing countries and has been found to be number one cause of incapacitation and impairment in people under sixty years of age [2,3]. For every death from trauma, 3-8 people are disabled for life [4]. According to a study carried out in 1990, road traffic accidents were ranked as the 9th leading cause of death and by 2020, this rank is expected to be 3rd worldwide [5]. Department of Orthopaedics, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Holy Family Hospital and Rawalpindi Medical College, Rawalpindi. Correspondence: Dr. Riaz Ahmed Email: riazahmed9999@hotmail.com A strong affiliation between gender and cause has been found [6]. Similarly extremity trauma has been reported to be the most important factor leading to lifetime impairment [7]. Contrary to its increasing incidence, there has not been much improvement in the response to trauma, which indicates an upsurge in the avertible cause of death and disability. Trauma management not only put a burden on the economy of a country but in a society like ours it has a life long impact on the family also, thus compromising their role in the society as an individual [8]. This scarcity of candid data on traumatization and its effect on the nation was carried out to help in the development of prevention and intervention strategies, proper allocation of resources which could improve patient care in the long run and to fashion training opportunities for the medical trainees in pre hospital and hospital setup thus reducing the morbidity and mortality rate to a minimum [1].