Epidemiological Pattern of Foot Injuries in India: Preliminary Assessment of Data from a Tertiary Hospital

Foot injuries are an often disabling, especially when the diagnosis is delayed and treatment is inappropriate; this becomes significant in polytrauma where diagnosis maybe missed, and in young adults who are injured in the prime of life. No data on foot injury is available from India or any other developing country; we undertook a prospective 1 year study to evaluate incidence and epidemiology of foot injuries seen at our center. One hundred and thirty-four feet were injured in 1,765 patients, with 82% being males, and the average age being 30.8 years. Road accident was predominant cause (73.8%) in contrast to the published literature, with two-third being open injuries; 47% were polytrauma victims. The surgical delay averaged 3.14 days, reasons for which were multifactorial. This high incidence of foot injury (7.59%) in men in their most productive years assumes significance when residual disability occurs due to mismanagement. A high index of suspicion needs to be maintained in road accident victims and polytrauma cases, so that foot injury is not missed and treatment is not inordinately delayed.