[Unintentional injuries at the Emergency Department Injury Surveillance System--Brazil, 2006].
In 2006, the Brazilian Ministry of Health established the Injury Surveillance System Network in Sentinel Services (Rede VIVA) to describe data on injuries victims treated at emergency departments (ED), especially minor injuries which do not cause deaths and hospitalization. This study describes the characteristics of unintentional injuries victims treated in these EDs by means of a transversal descriptive study with data coming from EDs located in 35 municipalities with the highest injury rates. The data were collected during 30 consecutive days in an alternated 12-hour shift. There were a total of 41,677 patients with unintentional injuries, mainly among males (64.8%), people aged 20 to 29 years (23.0%) and low level of education (45.8%). Falls were the main cause (40.1% overall), followed by transport related injuries (26.6% overall). The more frequent place of occurrence were public streets (36.3% overall) and residences (33.6% overall). The body parts most affected were upper members (42.7%), lower members (42.0%) and head/face (29.2%). The injury surveillance in sentinel services allows collecting timeless data about minor cases which is essential for planning and implementing preventive measures.
Coordenação Geral de Vigilância de Doenças e Agravos Não Transmissíveis, Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde, Ministério da Saúde. marcio.mascarenhas@saude.gov.br
Márcio Dênis Medeiros
MD
Mascarenhas
Marta Maria Alves
MM
da Silva
Deborah Carvalho
DC
Malta
Lenildo
L
de Moura
Vilma Pinheiro
VP
Gawryszewski
Valter Chaves
VC
Costa
Maria de Fátima Marinho
Mde F
Souza
Otaliba Libânio
OL
de Morais Neto
D000059:Accidents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D055815:Young Adult