Musculoskeletal injuries: a private specialist hospital perspective

Trauma remains one of the leading causes of death globally. It also leads to short and long term morbidity as well as enormous economic loss, especially for a developing economy such as Nigeria.

To describe the pattern and outcome of musculoskeletal injuries.

This is a 5-year retrospective study of musculoskeletal injuries seen in Havana Specialist Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria. A private hospital servicing mainly families of the upper and middle economic class.

One thousand, one hundred and twenty-one cases were studied. Males accounted for 730 (65.1%). Ages 3 weeks to 78 years were affected with a mean of 34 years and peak incidence in the 21-30 years group. Road traffic accident caused 959(85.5%) of the injuries, followed by falls 76 (6.8%) and gunshots 52 (4.6%). Four hundred and eighty-three (50.4%) of the RTA were motorcycle related. Lower limbs alone were affected in 228 patients (20.3%), upper limbs in 74 (6.6%), head and neck in 41 (3.7%). Two hundred and fifty-eight patients (23.0%) had two hundred and sixty-six fractures. Five hundred and eight patients (45.3%) had multiple injuries. Twenty-five patients (2.2%) died.

Musculoskeletal injuries are mostly caused by road traffic accidents and affects mainly young adult males. Motorcycle related incidents constitute majority of road traffic accidents.