title: Occupational injury patterns of Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Each year, a significant number of people die or become handicapped due to preventable occupational accidents or occupational diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate socio-demographic features, mechanism, causes, injury area, and sectoral features of occupational accidents in patients presented to our department.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was carried out retrospectively after local ethics committee approval. Age and sex of the patients, mechanism of injury, type and exact location of injuries were all evaluated. The groups were compared using Chi-Square test, Student's T test and Kruskall-Wallis test. p value <0.05 was accepted as statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Totally 654 patients were included in the study. 93.4% of patients were male, and mean age was 32.96 ± 5.97 (18-73) years. Sectoral distribution of accidents was statistically significant and mostly occurred in industrial and construction workers (p < 0.05, respectively). There is a statistically significant relationship between educational level and sector of the worker (p < 0.05). While the most frequent cause of admission to emergency department was penetrating injuries (36.4%), the least was due to multiple traumas (0.5%). Distribution of occupational accidents according to injury type was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 9.79 ± 8.1. The mean cost of occupational injury was $1729.57 ± 8178.3. There was statistically significant difference between the sectors with respect to cost. Seventy-one patients (10.9%) recovered with permanent sequel and two (0.3%) died in hospital.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Occupational accidents are most commonly seen in young males, especially in primary school graduated workers, and during daytime period.
authors.forename: Kaan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Celik
authors.forename: Fevzi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.affiliation: Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Emergency department, Ankara, Turkey. cemkavalci@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Cemil
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kavalci
authors.forename: Miray
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozlem
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.forename: Tamer
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Durdu
authors.forename: Bedriye Müge
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Sonmez
authors.forename: Muhittin Serkan
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: Muhammed Evvah
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Karakilic
authors.forename: Engin Deniz
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Arslan
authors.forename: Cihat
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yel