Factors Associated With the Complexity of Facial Trauma

Facial fractures have their incidence, etiology, clinical presentation, and features influenced by variables such as economic, cultural, and demographic factors. A large number of these fractures require simple or more complex approaches, and it becomes important to understand their clinical and epidemiological profile and factors associated with the fracture event and surgical indication.

The objective of this research is to analyze the clinical and epidemiological profile of surgical fractures and their associations with causal factors such as alcohol consumption, day of the incident, and nonuse of helmet for motorcycle accidents.

A retrospective study was conducted with collection of data from medical records of patients operated for facial fractures at the Hospital Regional of Cariri, state of Ceara, the Northeast of Brazil. Records from 2012 to 2014 were acquired highlighting sex, age, occupation, etiology, anatomical sites of fractures, and surgeries of varying complexities for single or multiple fractures. The day of the event, report or signs of alcohol consumption, and the use of helmets in motorcycle accidents were named associated factors.

As a result the authors had a total of 624 cases of surgical facial fractures. Out of these, 546 (87.5%) were male and the majority of them presented between 20 and 30 years of age (40.5%). It was also observed that as an etiological factor motorcycle accidents led to more cases of surgical facial fractures, with 357 cases (62.1%), followed by physical aggression with 72 cases (12.5%).

It can be concluded that there is a high prevalence of surgical facial fractures in male patients between 20 and 30 years of age, caused by motorcycle accidents, and that there was a strong association between the consumption of alcohol, failure to wear a helmet, and the presence of surgical facial multiple fractures.