A study of stab wounds

A study was made of patients with stab wounds who attended the Accident and Emergency Department of Glasgow Royal Infirmary during 1978 and 1983. There were 318 patients. The majority, 304 (96%), were males. A total of 87 (27%) were teenagers. The most common sites of the wounds were the chest (143 patients) and the abdomen (113 patients). The features of the patients and their wounds are compared with those of a previous study carried out at the same hospital in the early 1960s (Batey & MacBain, 1967). The post-mortem reports of 25 fatal stab injury cases occurring in Glasgow between 1971 and 1978 are also reviewed. Some aspects of diagnosis, management and prevention of stab wounds are discussed.