Epidemiology of isolated hand injuries in the United Arab Emirates

Table 1 Isolated hand injury hospitalization by age group and mechanism, Al Ain Hospital, 2003-2006 (n = 210) n (%)

Variable	Age groups
	0-14	15-29	30-59	Total
Machinery	1 (4.2)	32 (41)	43 (40.2)	76 (36.4)
Heavy object	3 (12.5)	12 (15.4)	28 (26.2)	43 (20.6)
Fall	5 (20.8)	9 (11.5)	9 (8.4)	23 (11)
Cut	6 (25)	9 (11.5)	5 (4.7)	20 (9.6)
Traffic	3 (12.5)	6 (7.7)	7 (6.5)	16 (7.6)
Burn	4 (16.7)	4 (5.1)	7 (6.5)	15 (7.2)
Crush	1 (4.2)	2 (2.6)	2 (1.9)	5 (2.4)
Animal	1 (4.2)	0	3 (2.8)	4 (1.9)
Other	0	4 (5.1)	3 (2.8)	7 (3.3)
Total	24 (100)1	78 (100)1	107 (100)	209 (100)1

¹The percentage may not add to 100 due to rounding; age of 1 patient was unknown.

Table 2 Isolated hand injury hospitalization by location and mechanism, Al Ain Hospital, 2003-2006 (n = 210) n (%)

Variable	Location of injury
	Work	Road	Home	Other	Total
Machinery	72 (51.1)	0	2 (5.6)	2 (10)	76 (36.2)
Heavy object	39 (27.7)	0	4 (11.1)	0	43 (20.5)
Fall	8 (5.7)	1 (7.7)	9 (25)	5 (25)	23 (11)
Cut	8 (5.7)	0	10 (27.8)	2 (10)	20 (9.5)
Burn	9 (6.4)	0	6 (16.7)	1 (5)	16 (7.6)
Traffic	0	12 (92.3)	1 (2.8)	3 (15)	16 (7.6)
Crush	3 (2.1)	0	2 (5.6)	0	5 (2.4)
Animal	0	0	0	4 (20)	4 (1.9)
Other	2 (1.4)	0	2 (5.6)	3 (15)	7 (3.3)
Total	141 (100)1	13 (100)	36 (100)1	20 (100)	210 (100)1

¹The percentage may not add to 100 due to rounding.

Table 3 Demography and hospital stay of isolated hand injury by location of injury, Al Ain Hospital, 2003-2006 (n = 210)

Variable	Work	Road	Home	P-value
	n = 141	n = 13	n = 36
Age	32 (18-55)	40 (14-45)	11.5 (1-57)	< 0.0001
Gender
Males	98.6% (139)	100% (13)	61.1% (22)	< 0.0001
Females	1.4% (2)	0	38.9% (14)
Nationality
UAE	1.4% (2)	7.7% (1)	27.8% (10)	< 0.0001
Indian Subcontinent	76.6% (108)	46.2% (6)	30.6% (11)
Others	21.3% (30)	46.2% (6)	41.7% (15)
Hospital days	6 (1-110)	6 (2-17)	3.5 (2-22)	0.008

Twenty-six patients injured in other locations were not included; Data are presented as median (range) or number (%) as appropriate; P = Kruskall Wallis test or Fisher’s Exact test as appropriate. UAE: United Arab Emirates.