Pattern of Head Injuries in Western Hilly Region of Nepal: A Hospital-based Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Subtle or gross structural changes of scalp, skull and its contents due to application of direct or indirect external force are known as head injuries. Head being the most vulnerable and prominent part of body, injuries to it cause major mortality and morbidity globally. This study focussed to find the pattern of traumatic head injuries in patients presented to Lumbini Medical College Teaching Hospital, Palpa, Nepal. Methods: The data was collected from 252 patients (164 males and 88 females) with head injuries attending Emergency or out-patient department of Neurosurgery of the institute. All patients with traumatic head injuries (scalp injury, skull fracture, intracranial haemorrhage and brain injury) were included in the study and brought dead patients and patients with non-traumatic brain lesions were excluded. Results: Among the various modes of head injuries, the most frequent was road traffic accidents accounting 125 (49.60%) cases and fall from height 108 (42.86%) cases was second to it followed by physical assault 12 (4.76%) and others 7(2.78%). Manner of injuries were unintentional in 238 (94.44%) of cases. Among males, intentional injuries were present in 5 (2.98%) cases and among females, 9 (10.72%) cases presented with intentional injuries. In 105 (41.67%) of the cases, head injuries were associated with injuries to the other body parts as well. Conclusion: The most common cause of head injury was found to be road traffic accident followed by fall from height. Intentional injuries were more common in females when compared to males.