Head injury in urban and rural populations in a developing country

A population based comparative study of head injury in Taiwan was conducted from January to December 1993. Taipei City was selected to represent an urban population and Hualien County its rural counterpart. A total of 4955 cases of head injury in Taipei and 1069 cases in Hualien were studied. The head injury incidence rate in Hualien is about two times that of Taipei. Traffic accident related head injuries, especially motorcycle accidents, accounted for a larger percentage of cases in Hualien than in Taipei. In terms of mortality rate, the injuries tended to be more fatal in Hualien. The preliminary data clearly show that there exist major geographical differences of head injury patterns in urban and rural areas in a developing country. Preventative measures, specifically focusing on motorcycle accident related head injury, need to be adopted to deal with this serious problem.