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Epidemiological study of pediatric trauma in a reference hospital in Curitiba
Fernanda Glus Scharnoski1, Isadora Mezzomo Desconsi1, Marc Domit Werner Linnenkamp2
1- Universidade Positivo, Faculdade de Medicina - Curitiba - PR - Brasil.
Insights
Male children and adolescents most frequently experience trauma, with falls being the primary cause, especially in younger age groups. Upper limb injuries are most common, with most cases being low complexity.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Trauma Surgery
- Public Health
Background:
- Pediatric trauma represents a significant public health concern.
- Understanding trauma patterns in children and adolescents is crucial for effective prevention and management.
- Emergency room data provides valuable insights into acute pediatric injuries.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the prevalence of trauma types, injuries, and management strategies in pediatric patients (0-17 years) treated in an emergency room in 2019.
- To analyze age-specific trauma mechanisms and injury patterns in children and adolescents.
- To characterize the complexity and hospitalization rates of pediatric trauma cases.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective, cross-sectional descriptive study.
- Data collected from 3,741 medical records of pediatric trauma victims treated between January and December 2019.
- Patients categorized into age groups: infants (0-1), preschool (2-4), school children (5-10), and adolescents (11-17).
Main Results:
- Males were the most affected demographic across all age groups.
- Fall from heights was the leading trauma mechanism in infants (57.2%) and preschoolers (34.1%).
- Ground-level falls (38%) and sports trauma (22.3%) were predominant in school children and adolescents, respectively. Traumatic brain injury (28.2%), upper limb contusion (23.2%), and upper limb fractures (16.3%) were the most frequent injuries.
Conclusions:
- The study highlights males as the most affected group, with trauma mechanisms varying significantly by age.
- Falls are the most common cause of pediatric trauma, particularly in younger children.
- The majority of cases were low complexity, with a low hospitalization rate (6%), indicating effective initial management for most injuries.
Objective:
to analyze the prevalence of types of trauma, resulting injuries and managements in children and adolescents between 0 and 17 years old, treated in an Emergency Room in 2019.
Methods:
a retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study carried out by collecting data from medical records from January to December of 2019, encompassing pediatric trauma victims, divided according to age groups: infants (0-1 year), preschool children (2-4 years), school children (5-10 years) and adolescents (11-17 years).
Results:
3,741 patients records were included in the study. The search for assistance occurred spontaneously in about 70% of the cases and males were the most affected at all ages. In infants and preschoolers, the main mechanism of trauma was fall from heights, corresponding to 57.2% and 34.1%, respectively, whereas in school children and adolescents, the main mechanism was ground-level falls (38%) and sports trauma (22,3%), in this order. The main injuries presented, in general, were traumatic brain injury (28,2%), upper limb contusion (23,2%) and upper limb fractures (16,3%).
Conclusions:
the profile of the victims analyzed indicates the male sex as the most affected, with the trauma mechanism being the differential according to age. The most frequent mechanism is falls, more prevalent in infants and preschoolers, and the most common injury is extremity contusion, with the upper limbs being the most affected. In general, the cases were considered of low complexity, with a hospitalization rate of 6%.
