Trend of hospitalization due to injury in Lanzhou city from 1994 to 2008

ObjectiveTo provide scientific data for preventing and controlling injuries by exploring the trend of hospitalization due to injury.MethodsBy using cluster sampling method,medical records of 13 227 injury inpatients from 1994 to 2008 were collected in two general hospitals in Lanzhou city.ResultsAmong the injury inpatients, 73.92% were male and 26.08% were female with a significant difference(χ²=70.610,P=0.000).There was a linear positive correlation between the ratio of male inpatients and calender year(r_s=0.649,P=0.009).The difference in age distribution of injury inpatients among different age groups was statistically significant with an increase trend for the inpatients of 45 to 64 years old and over 65 years old(r_s=0.682,P=0.005;r_s=0.793,P=0.000),with the average increase rates of 1.85% and 4.71% per year.There were decrese trends for the ratio of injury inpatients for the age groups of 15 to 24 and 25 to 44 years(r_s=-0.571,P=0.026;r_s=-0.643,P=0.010),with the average decent rates 2.37% and 0.72% per year.The ratios of traffic accidental injury and accidental fall injury increased.The average annual increase rate for accidental fall injury was 2.41%.The violence injury and environment accident had a negative correlation with the calender year with the average annual descent rates of 7.04% and 3.88%.ConclusionThe majority of injury inpatients is male youths.The old people is the vulnerable group and at high-risk of injury.Traffic accident and accidental fall are two main causes of jury hospitalization.