A two-year audit of the occurrence and characteristic of Cranio-lviaxillofacial firearm injuries at a major hospital in Nairobi

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of firearm injuries (FAI) involving the cranio-maxillofacial region among patients admitted at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the largest national referral and University of Nairobi teaching hospital in Kenya. There were 42l patients admitted with FAI, 48; (11.4%) of whom had sustained a significant injury to the cranio-rnaxillofacial region. The age of those injured ranged from 5 to 56 years with a mean age of ]O.5years and the age f,lTOUp most affected was ]0-39 years (29.2%). Seven (14.58%) of the patients admitted with craniofacial injuries died of their wounds, translating to one death for every seven patients admitted with injury to the craniofacial area.