Epidemiology of Craniofacial Soft Tissue Injury in a Western Chinese Population

Craniofacial soft tissue injuries represent a serious public health problem and their epidemiology is extremely variable. The objective of the present study was to analyze and discuss the epidemiological characteristics of 12,816 patients with craniofacial skin soft tissue injuries over a 3-year period.

This retrospective study was conducted in emergency departments of plastic surgery at Xijing Hospitals from 2020 to 2022. Data were collected for the cause of injury, age and gender distribution, localization and frequency of soft tissue injuries, visit time, facial bone fractures, nerve injury, and treatment protocols. All the data were analyzed and performed including descriptive analysis, chi-square test, and logistic regression analyses.

A total of 13,574 soft tissue injuries were seen in 12,816 patients. A total to 94.67% (12,133) were single-site injuries, and 5.33% (683) were multiple-site injuries. The male-to-female ratio of 1.62:1. The age group 0 to 9 years accounted is the largest subgroup. The most common etiology of the trauma was collisions, accounted for 51.89%. The forehead (23.54%) was the most common site by the cheeks (14.36%). Two hundred three patients (1.58%) had associated bone fractures. May month had the highest incidence of trauma and February month had the lowest incidence. There are more visits on weekends than on weekdays. 18:00 to 24:00 is the time with the largest number of visits, but there is no statistically significant difference from other time periods. The average time interval between the accident and treatment was 6.8 hours, and the median time was 6 hours.

The incidence of craniofacial soft tissue injuries is related to gender, age, and the cause of trauma. Children between 0 and 9 are the most likely group. Collisions is the main cause of craniofacial soft tissue injuries.