Head and Face Injuries in Automobile Accidents and Associated Factors in a city in Northeastern Brazil

Objective: To evaluate the occurrence of head and face injuries and associated factors among victims of automobile accidents in a trauma center. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was developed through the analysis of 9,734 medical records of children and adults hospitalized due to external causes in the Regional Hospital of Emergency and Trauma at Campina Grande, Brazil. Data were analyzed with the SPSS software version 15, also using the Pearson’s chi-square test. The significance level adopted was 5 %. Results: Cases of automobile accidents accounted for 25.9% (n = 463) of hospitalizations due to external causes, and 83.8 % of victims were male and 16.2 % were female, representing a sex ratio of 5.1:1. As for age group, most had between 20 and 29 years (38.1%) and with respect to the day of the week, 40.8 % of incidents occurred over the weekend. The occurrence of injury was greater on the face (17.4%) than on the head (7.8%) and most victims had a single injury (58.5%). The existence of bone fractures was observed in 76.9 % of victims and 14.7 % had functional impairment. There was association between variables age (p < 0.001), sex (p < 0.001), day of the week (p < 0.001), presence of bone fractures (p < 0.001) and functional impairment (p = 0.002) with the occurrence of automobile accidents. Conclusion: The most automobile accidents occur on weekends and affect young male individuals, with frequent presence of fractures among victims. The occurrence of injury was greater on the face than on the head. Factors such as age, sex, presence of bone fractures and functional impairment was associated with automobile accidents.