A prospective study of the incidence of traumatic brain injury associated with craniofacial fractures

Background: In developing countries such as Nigeria, traumatic brain injury (TBI) is on the rise due to increasing traffic load, the poor state of the roads, and other confounding factors such as industrialization. This has led to the urgent need to study the incidence of head injuries associated with craniofacial fractures. In the past, the imaging of patients with a head injury was mainly through plain skull radiography but this has largely been overtaken by the use of computed tomography due to its higher sensitivity, reliability, and increasing availability. Objectives: To determine the incidence of head injuries associated with craniofacial fractures, the most common mechanism of injury, and the most common bone involved in the fracture. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of 170 patients with head injuries in presenting at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) Nnewi, Nigeria using a consecutive sampling technique. The data collected were analyzed with SPSS version 20. Pearson's chi-square was used to assess relationships and statistical significance between categorical variables. Results: The incidence of craniofacial fractures associated with TBI was 44 per 100,000. Motorcycle road traffic accident 72 (42.3%) was the most common mechanism of injury and the facial bones (22.5%) were the most common site for the fracture. Conclusion: There is a high incidence of head injury associated with craniofacial fractures NAUTH, Nnewi, Nigeria. There is a need to put in place measures for reducing TBI and craniofacial fractures in the study population.