Epidemiology of Trauma and Injuries

Conventional definition of injuries related trauma focuses on harm to the body caused by energy exchanges that have relatively sudden, observable effects. This excludes acute events such as ingestion of foreign body; poisoning and those involving slow chronic transfer of energy such as stress fractures, carpal tunnel syndromes, etc. Accidents are defined as “an unexpected, unplanned occurrence which may involve injury”. Global Burden of Disease (GBD) has become the most reliable and consistent source of data on mortality due to injuries but is limited by lack of details of risks and circumstances for injury. To attain the true burden, and to identify risk factors of the trauma and injuries, it is required to develop population and hospital-based registries of injuries and link them with data on their mechanism and outcomes.