Traumatic injury among females: Does gender matter?

Abstract

Trauma remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Generally, the incidence of traumatic injuries is disproportionately high in males. However, trauma in females is underreported.Aim: To study the epidemiology and outcome of different mechanisms and types of traumatic injuries in women.Methods: We conducted a traditional narrative review using PubMed, MEDLINE and EMBASE, searching for English-language publications for gender-specific trauma between January 1993 and January 2013 using key words " trauma" , " gender" , " female" and " women" .Results: Among 1150 retrieved articles, 71 articles were relevant over 20 years. Although it is an important public health problem, traumatic injuries among females remain under-reported.Conclusion: There is a need for further research and evaluation of the exact burden of traumatic injuries among females together with the implementation of effective community based preventive programs. © 2014 El-Menyar et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.