@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 1027-1457    Scientific Journal of Forensic Medicine 2018;24(3):203-210

Background
This article is the result of a research project with No. 20733 carried out at the legal medicine research center of Iran.
Previous Studies
… [1-7]. According to the results of the study in Iran, 12.6% of all injured people referred to the legal medicine had self-injury (8). This rate is more than twice in the results of the research in the United States population (5.9%) (9). The factors which cause such phenomena are poverty and unemployment, economic and livelihood problems, addiction, receiving blood money from insurance companies in traffic accidents, lack of attention and accuracy of experts in investigating the causes of traffic accidents and determining the accident factor only according to the statements of the parties in an accident and the lack of special courts for dealing with the cases of traffic accidents (10).
Aim(s)
The present study aims to investigate the pattern of injuries, individual characteristics, and coordinates of the traffic accident.
Research type
This research is a cross-sectional descriptive study.
Research society, place and time
This study was carried out on 58 injured people from traffic accidents who referred to the legal medicine department of Hormozgan province with introduction letter of judicial authority and by detecting factitious injuries from June 2015 to June 2016.
Sampling method and number
These subjects were examined by a doctor of the legal medicine and if the doctor detected the probability of factitious injuries, a re-examination was carried out by another doctor. Finally, some criteria were considered in the injured subjects such as pattern and area of surface injuries and fractures and dental injuries and their pattern, information of accident (time, place and number of people in the accident) and comparing their injuries, the effects of previous self-injuries, social and personality status of the injured subjects, detection of injuries with non-accidental pattern and making injuries with personal satisfaction (during a fictitious accident). After the diagnosis, the photography of all factitious injuries of the injured subjects was prepared and was located in the file of factitious injuries.
Used devices&materials
In the one-year period of this study, the number of 58 cases with the diagnosis of factitious injuries was detected in the examination department of Bandar Abbas legal medicine. Data were collected by the checklist containing demographic variables (age, gender, and place of birth, place of residence, job, education level, and criminal records) and the type and area of injuries. The criminal records of the subjects were investigated by the inquiry from the police criminal investigation department of Hormozgan province. Data were analyzed by Stata 12 software. The central and dispersion indicators, tables, and diagrams were used to description of the variables. As well as, Chi-square test was used for investigation of the relationship between the place of residence with nasal, ulna bone and dental fractures and nasal and Knee injuries.
Findings by Text
Of 58 identified cases with the prognosis of factitious injuries, 57 subjects were males (98.3%) and 1 subject was female (1.7%). Age average of the subjects was 27.6±0.95 and most factitious injuries were related to the age group of 20-30. 50% of the subjects were married and 44.8% of the subjects were the residence in Bandar Abbas city (Table 1). The most common area of injury was the superficial injury of Forearm (Table 2). There were 66 fractures which the most common site of fracture was the distal ulna (25.9%) and dental fractures (25.9%) (Diagram 1). In the some subjects, fractures may have occurred in different areas of the body and each subject may have more than one fractures.It was found that 15 (25.9%) subjects had a criminal record through examination of criminal records. Some of subjects had two or more criminal records (Diagram 2). Abrasion was the most common type of injury in the subjects (Diagram 3). There were 64 cases of dental fracture which dental fracture of UL2 was the most common dental fractures (Table 3). Accompaniment rate of nasal, ulna bone and dental fractures and nasal and knee injuries are presented in table 4. It seems that people in different geographic regions have a different pattern of injuries. Considering this assumption, there was no significant relationship between the place of residence with the nasal, ulna bone and dental fractures and nasal and knee injuries (p<0.05; Table 5).
Main comparison to the similar studies
The results of the research showed that the majority of the subjects were male which is consistent with the researches such as Hejazi et al (5). Specht et al. in a study about factitious injuries of adolescents referring to the emergency department of periphery area of the city found that 60% cases of the factitious injuries were related to the males (11). Gholamzadeh et al. in a study about the pattern of self-injuries in Fars province found that self-injuries in males was more than females so that the different level was significant, statistically (12). In the research of Hejazi et al. 4 cases of 5 cases were in the age group of 20-30 (5). In a study conducted by Gholamzadeh et al. the age average was 25.7 which is consistent with the results of the present study (12). In the research of Ryan et al. the majority of the subjects were in the age group of 18-35 among the 568 cases of self-injury referred to the emergency department, which is consistent with the results of the present study (13). In addition, based on the research of Bakhtiyari and Soori most of the traffic accidents were in the age group of 20-29 (14). Self-injuries such as traffic accidents are prevalence in young people which its reason can be the young population of the country and activity and efficiency of young people... [15-16].
Suggestions
It is suggested that in the future, studies be planned to examine the relationship between legal medicine, judges and insurers in dealing with fictional incidents.
Limitations
The limitations of this study were the possibility of bias in prognosis of factitious injuries (which has been minimized using the attitudes of at least two experts of the legal medicine) and the problems in access to the criminal records of the subjects (the necessary license was issued regarding the principle of confidentiality and necessary coordination with the law enforcement and judicial officers of Hormozgan province).
Conclusions
The majority of the subjects with self-injuries were males in age group of 20-30 with characteristics of criminal records, self-employment and education level less than diploma degree. The most common area of injuries and fractures were in forearm and distal ulna, respectively and the abrasion is the major pretense of factitious injuries.
Acknowledgments
The authors of the present study would like to appreciate the efforts of the individuals and organizations involved in this study.
Conflict of interest
There is no conflict of interest.
Ethical Permissions
There was no ethical problem in this research.
Funding Sources
The financial resources of this research are provided from the budget of the legal medicine department of Hormozgan province.

TABLES and CHARTS

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