Epidemic of stab injuries: an Alice Springs dilemma.

This study is unique in that it strives to unfold, perhaps for the first time, the problem of stab injuries and resultant significant mortality and morbidity within the Aboriginal population of Central Australia. Demographic features presented in the study are quite different from other published Australasian and overseas experiences. There were 1550 stab injury admissions to Alice Springs Hospital during a 7-year period (July 1998 to June 2005). Thirty-two patients were dead before arrival, and there were only three deaths in the hospital during the period of study. The most unique demographic feature was that 99.99% were Aborigines, 53% were women and the most common location of injury was in town camps and homes. The mean age of this population was 31 years, and the average length of stay in hospital was 3 days. The most common site of the stab injuries was the thigh with a total of 605 (38%). Stab injuries to the abdomen were significantly low with 68 (