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Emergency department presentations with mammalian bite injuries: risk factors for admission and surgery
Author(s) -
Ting Jeannette WC,
Yue Brian Yin Ting,
Tang Howard Ho Fung,
Rizzitelli Alexandra,
Shayan Ramin,
Raiola Frank,
Rozen Warren M,
HunterSmith David
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja15.00653
Subject(s) - medicine , emergency medicine , incidence (geometry) , audit , emergency department , hospital admission , retrospective cohort study , epidemiology , univariate analysis , surgery , multivariate analysis , physics , management , psychiatry , optics , economics
Objectives: The incidence of animal bite injuries in Australia is high. There is currently no established method for reliably predicting whether a patient with a bite injury will require admission to hospital or surgery. Design: A retrospective audit of mammalian bite injuries at seven major hospitals in Melbourne, Victoria, over a 2‐year period. The associations between each predictor and outcome of interest were analysed with univariate and multiple regression analyses. Setting: Seven major hospitals in Melbourne, Victoria: the Alfred Hospital, Austin Hospital, Frankston Hospital, Monash Medical Centre, Royal Melbourne Hospital, St Vincent's Hospital and Western Hospital. Participants: Patients presenting to emergency departments with mammalian bite injuries. Main outcome measures: Hospital admission, intravenous antibiotic therapy, surgery, reoperation, readmission. Results: We identified 717 mammalian bite injuries. The mean age of the patients was 36.5 years (median, 34 years; range, 0–88 years), with an equal number of males and females. The overall rate of hospital admission was 50.8%, and the mean length of stay was 2.7 days. Intravenous antibiotics were administered in 46% of cases; surgery was undertaken in 43.1% of cases. The re‐operation rate was 4.5%, the re‐admission rate was 3%. Conclusions: Our study provides a detailed epidemiological analysis of animal bite injuries at seven major hospitals in Victoria. Risk factors for hospitalisation and surgery may assist in identifying patients who require admission and surgical intervention.