OBJECTIVETo analyze the data of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) induced by road traffic crashes in southeastern Iran for better understanding the pattern of these injuries and therefore for better designing health system planning.

METHODSIn this historical cohort study, the patients who had been transferred to Level I trauma center in southeastern Iran due to road traffic accidents with radiographic documented SCI were evaluated.

RESULTSAmong 64 patients with SCI, 38 patients (59.4%, 36 males and 2 females, aged 27.42 years+/-9.44 years on average) were injured by road traffic accidents. Car and motorcycle accidents were responsible for 26 cases (68.4%) and 12 cases (31.6%), respectively. And 31 patients (81.6%) had complete SCI. Conus medularis (T12-L2) was the most affected level.

CONCLUSIONSResults are discussed in terms of preventive measures, specifically those concerning the use of restraint and helmet and driving behavior. This study should be extended nationally to gain a larger case series so that the SCI risk of particular vehicle configurations, considering other crash factors, can be more precisely quantified and the characteristics for low occurrence of SCI can be more precisely identified.

Accidents, Traffic ; statistics & numerical data ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Equipment Design ; Head Protective Devices ; Humans ; Iran ; epidemiology ; Middle Aged ; Seat Belts ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; surgery

BACKGROUND: Studies that evaluate the effect of age on stone composition are scarce. The aim of this study was to highlight the changes in epidemiological characteristics (stone composition and location) of urolithiasis according to patients' age. METHODS: We studied 1,301 urolithiasis patients with age ranging from 6 months to 92 yr (781 males and 520 females). Stone analysis was performed using a stereomicroscope and infrared spectroscopy to determine the morphological type and molecular composition of each stone. RESULTS: The annual average incidence of new stone formation was 31.7 per 100,000 persons. In 71.8% of cases, calculi were located in the upper urinary tract. Compared to other age groups, children and old men were more affected by bladder stones. Calcium oxalate monohydrate was the most frequent stone component, even though its frequency decreased with age (59.5% in young adults and 43.7% in the elderly, P<0.05) in favor of an increase in uric acid stones (11.5% in young adults and 36.4% in the elderly, P<0.05). Struvite stones were rare (3.8%) and more frequent in children than in adults. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of these data showed that urinary stones in Tunisian patients are tending to evolve in the same direction as the stones in patients from industrialized countries.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Calcium Oxalate/chemistry ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Kidney Calculi/chemistry/diagnosis/epidemiology ; Magnesium Compounds/chemistry ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phosphates/chemistry ; Retrospective Studies ; Spectrophotometry, Infrared ; Tunisia/epidemiology ; Uric Acid/chemistry ; Urinary Bladder Calculi/chemistry/diagnosis/epidemiology ; Urinary Calculi/*chemistry/diagnosis/epidemiology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo compare fatalities and injuries in road traffic crashes (RTC) in Iran with other countries.

METHODSData were obtained from national health sources of Iran. These data included population number, registered motor-vehicles number, number of RTCs and consequent fatalities and injuries from 1997 to 2006.

RESULTSRTC fatality and injury rates increased from 1997 to 2005, but decreased in 2006. The overall men/women ratio in the RTC fatalities was 4.2:1. High RTC fatality rate of 39 per 100 000 population in Iran was almost the same as some other developing countries. In Iran, RTC fatalities in recent years were almost twice as much as the highest rate among the European countries.

CONCLUSIONSThis investigation shows that in spite of reduction of RTC fatality in Iran in 2006, it is still one of the highest in the world. Moreover, this paper describes the state of RTC-related parameters in a developing country in comparison with the developed countries.

Accidents, Traffic ; statistics & numerical data ; Developed Countries ; Developing Countries ; Female ; Humans ; Iran ; epidemiology ; Male ; Wounds and Injuries ; epidemiology ; mortality