[Factors related to hospitalization due to injuries in children and adolescents]

To analyze some factors related to injuries and children and adolescents' hospitalization.

This is a prospective, descriptive and observational research that took place at Marcio Cunha Hospital, Ipatinga, Minas Gerais, in the period of December 1st, 1999 to November 30th, 2000. The sample included 696 children and adolescents' hospitalized for injuries, age ranging from 0 to 19 years. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (10th version) was used as a parameter to classify the types of injuries and sites where they happened.

The injuries represented 9.9% of children and adolescents hospitalizations, of which, 69.7% were male patients. As for the informants opinion about causes of injuries, 57.2% attributed then to human failure, 18% believed they were due to fate and 12.7% did not know how to express their opinions. Only 23.1% of the informants had received previous orientation about prevention and the main sources were media, school and work place. A total of 31.9% of the events took place at home. Transportation injuries caused 34.5% of hospitalizations; falls, 33.2%; exposure to inanimate mechanical forces, 9%; contact with poisonous animals, 5.2%; aggression, 5%; burns, 4.9%; exposure to animated mechanical forces, 3.3%; intoxication, 2.3%; and other types, 2.6%.

Males were more affected than females. Only a low percentage of the informants had received previous orientation about injury prevention. The most affected age group was between 15 and 19 years. Transportation accidents and falls were the most frequent causes of injuries.