Incidence of Accident and Related Factors Among University Students in Turkey

Background and Objectives: Accidents and injuries among university students remains a major public health problem in the World. In the present study, it was aimed to evaluate one year- incidence of accident and associated with risk factors among university students in Canakkale city of Turkey. Material and Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2007-2008 in 5,034 students from Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University. A total of 4,762 students were completed the questionnaire (response rate of 94.6%). Risk factors associated with the frequency of accident was assessed by chi-square analysis. Results: The incidence of accidents among university students was 14.9% during the past 12 months. The most reported injuries were road (43.8%), home-homeland (33.2%) and outside home (26.9%) such as workplace, school or sports. The incidence of accident was significantly higher in male than in female (18.1% vs 12.0% p < 0.001). In addition, the frequency of accident was found to be more higher in those who were using tobacco, drinking alcohol, subtance use, who had a parent with high education level and in those who perceived their economic situation as very poor (p< 0.05). Conclusion: The present study revealed that the male gender, studying in college and vocational schools, substance use, very poor economic condition were among the risk factors associated with the incidence of accident in university students. Implementation of training programs giving priority to high-risk groups such as university and high school students is expected to reduce the frequency of accidents in the young age groups.