2Necmettin Erbakan Univ. Dept. of Family Practice, KONYA
3Sağlık Bilimleri Univ. Konya Education Hospital Dept. of Emergency Medicine KONYA Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate patients aged 65 years and older who were admitted to hospital due to a traffic accident through the last year retrospectively.
Materials and Methods: The study included 204 elderly patients admitted to the emergency department of Konya Training and Research Hospital due to a traffic accident between 1st November 2014 and 30th October 2015. The socio-demographic characteristics, accident stories, and treatments of these patients were examined. The data were analyzed by statistical tests.
Results: Of the patients, 64.7% (n = 132) were male and 35.3% (n = 72) were female. The traffic accidents occurred most frequently in the spring and summer time (p < 0.001). During winter months, the accidents occurred between 06.00 and 11.59 hours at most, but in other seasons they occurred between 12.00 and 17.59 hours more frequently (p < 0.001). Of the admitted patients, 4.4% (n = 9) lost their lives and 6.9% (n = 14) were hospitalized at the intensive care unit. While 56.4% (n = 115) of the patients were discharged from the emergency department by recovery, 43.6% (n = 89) of the patients were referred to 17 different clinics. Injuries were sustained to one or more parts of the body in 93.1% (n = 190) of the patients. The patients with head trauma had the highest mortality (p ˂ 0.001).
Conclusion: New strategies are needed to prevent traffic accidents and to treat geriatric patients more effectively after a traffic accident.
Keywords : Accidents, Traffic; Health services for the Aged; Inpatient; Prognosis