title: Concomitant injuries associated with maxillofacial fractures in Abuja, Nigeria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Injury is the leading cause of death and disability and the third most common cause of death Little attention has been given to the concomitant injuries associated with maxillofacial fractures in scientific literatures.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  For effective planning and efficient management of the patients, there is need to study the pattern ofthese injuries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Consecutive patients who sustained one or more facial bone fractures over a period of 2 years were prospectively studied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 103 patients out of which 96 sustained concomitant injuries giving an incidence of 93.2%.There were 75 (78.1%) males and 21 (21.9%) females with a M:F of 3.6:1. The mean + (SD) age was 30.8 +13.0 with a range of 2.0 to 68.0 years. Road Traffic Crashes was the commonest (n = 81, 84.4%) cause of injury. Soft tissue of the face, with an incidence of 62.1% (n = 64) was the commonest concomitant injury. It was followed by neurologic injury (n = 51, 49.5%) and ophthalmic injury (n = 38, 36.9%) while abdominal injury (n = 2, 1.9%) was the least common. Majority (87.5%) of the ophthalmic injury patients sustained midfacial fracture while 12.5% of the them sustained mandibular fractures. Pulmonary and cervical injuries were found to be associated more with mandibularfractures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Concomitant injuries occur commonly with maxillofacial fractures and they were found to have significant effect on the management of the fractures. A multidisciplinary approach will bring about a very efficient management of patients.
authors.affiliation: State House Medical Centre and National Hospital, Abuja. seidu_bello@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Seidu Adebayo
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Bello
authors.affiliation: State House Medical Centre and National Hospital, Abuja.
authors.forename: Abayomi Ademola
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Olaitan
authors.affiliation: State House Medical Centre and National Hospital, Abuja.
authors.forename: Abiodun Olubayo
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Fasola
authors.affiliation: State House Medical Centre and National Hospital, Abuja.
authors.forename: Olayemi Oluwole
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Olaomi
authors.affiliation: State House Medical Centre and National Hospital, Abuja.
authors.forename: Ezekiel Taiwo
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Adebayo
authors.affiliation: State House Medical Centre and National Hospital, Abuja.
authors.forename: Bayo Aluko
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Olokun
authors.affiliation: State House Medical Centre and National Hospital, Abuja.
authors.forename: Timothy Erinmosele
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Osodin
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D005131:Eye Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D005147:Facial Bones / Q000293:injuries*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008337:Mandibular Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult