[Maxillofacial fractures and associated factors in Campeche Mexico, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social medical insurance policyholders. Retrospective analysis 1994-1999].

OBJECTIVE: To determine prevalence, distribution, and associated factors of maxillofacial fractures (MFs) among third-party insurance plan patients.

METHOD: A cross-sectional and descriptive study with data of patients from Oral and Maxilofacial Surgery Department (January 1994 to December-1999) at the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social in Campeche, Mexico, was carried out. Daily registries, surgical programming lists' and charts of 1,611 patients were used to determine presence of MFs, age, sex, and status of the insured. Analysis was made in STATA 7 using X2. Odds ratio (OR) with confidence intervals to 95% were calculated (1C95%).

RESULTS: The prevalence of MFs was 9.4%. The age average was 31.04+/-15.49 years old. The major percentage of MFs were dentoalveolar fractures (26.3%), followed by mandibular angle (20.4%) and mandibular body (13.2%). Being a male was strongly associated with presence of MFs (OR=6.1; 1C95% 4.08, 9.12). The groups of age with greater association to MFs were those of 41-50 (RM=3.30 1C95% 1.57, 6.96) and those of 31-40 (RM=2.87 1C95% 1.53, 5.55). The workers category displayed a superior association (RM=6.25 1C95% 3.21, 13.56) to the other groups of the insured category.

CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiologic characteristics of MFs were similar to those reported in the specialized literature. Appearing mainly in men and intermediate age groups ages. The patterns of fractures in the studied patients were different according to the age group to which they belonged.