title: Occupational injuries admitted to the emergency department.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To categorise the characteristics, causes and rates of occupational injuries referred to the Emergency Department of a Turkish hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional study was conducted at a university-based hospital in Edirne, Turkey, from January 1, 2010 to May 1, 2011. Parameters evaluated included: gender, age, occurrence mechanism, injury type, injury localisation, sector, season, day of week, injury hours, the types of health insurance, working experience, educational level and outcome. SPSS 15 was used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 552 patients sustained occupational injuries. The male-to-female ratio was 11.54:1.The mean age of the patients was 36.03 +/- 11.77 years. The injury rate was the highest in the 18-29 age group (n = 418; 75.7%). Most cases occurred in the summers (n = 172; 31.2%). The largest number of injuries occurred on weekdays (n = 184; 33.3%). Most injuries occurred between 8AM and 4PM (n = 343; 62.1%).The construction industry had the highest injury rate (n = 222; 40.2%). The most common mechanism of injuries was penetrating sharp-object injury (n = 224; 40.6%). The most common type of injury in the general injury group was multiple-type (n = 162; 29.4%). Of the total, 379 (71.7%) patients were discharged after treatment in the Emergency Department. Five patients died during the study period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further studies in the Emergency Department may contribute to the prevention of occupational injuries in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Trakya University, Faculty of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey. mustafaburak@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Mustafa Burak
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Sayhan
authors.forename: Esin Secgin
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Sayhan
authors.forename: Serap
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yemenici
authors.forename: Serhat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oguz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D060389:Construction Industry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D012621:Seasons; D013997:Time Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult