Characteristics of pediatric injuries due to road traffic accidents and their effects on mortality

Guleser Akpinar

doi:10.28982/josam.844167

Authors

Guleser Akpinar https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8559-5098

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.28982/josam.844167

Keywords:

Emergency service, Pediatric trauma, Road traffic accidents

Abstract

BackgroundAim: Road traffic accident (RTA)-related injuries may cause morbidity and mortality in childhood. We aimed to investigate these injuries in terms of affected body regions, time of the accident, gender, and age, determine the factors affecting mortality, and evaluate the casualties' demographic features and discharge status. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients aged under 18 years who were victims of RTAs and presented to the emergency department of our tertiary university hospital between 01/01/2015 and 31/12/2019. Patients' age, gender, time, and mechanism of the accident, affected body region, type of injury, and clinical outcomes were recorded and analyzed. Results: A total of 137 pediatric patients met the inclusion criteria, among which 95 (67.2%) were males, and 42 (32.8%) were females. Five of the six patients who died were males. RTAs most occurred in summer (45.3%), in August (17.5%) and on Saturdays (25.5%). Among the affected systems, extremity injuries ranked first (36.5%), and head traumas ranked second (30.7%). Conclusion: In our study, presentations with out of vehicle traffic accidents (OVTAs) (motorcycle, bicycle, agricultural vehicle, or pedestrian) were more common (75.1%). Pediatric RTAs caused many injuries, especially extremity traumas, which were more serious in children under 15 years of age. In these patients, intracranial hemorrhage, rib fractures, and liver lacerations were evaluated as more severe injuries. Because of the limited number of the cases, we could not investigate the effects of traffic accidents on child mortality.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Saeed A, Muzammal M, Syed A, Hasan R, Amna AS, Naureen S, et al. Frequency and nature of road traffic injuries: data of more than 10,000 patients from Ha'il, Saudi Arabia. Cureus. 2019;11(1). doi: 10.7759/cureus.3830.

Organization WH. Global status report on road safety 2018: Summary. World Health Organization; 2018. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/277370/WHO-NMH-NVI-18.20-eng.pdf. Accessed 30 Nov 2020

Harikrishnan S, Jeemon P, Mini G, Thankappan K, Sylaja P. GBD 2017 Causes of Death Collaborators. Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. 2018. The Lancet. 2018;10;392(10159):1736-88. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32203-7.

Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). Road Traffic Accident Statistics, Number of Accidents, Persons Killed and Injured by Year. https://turkstatweb.tuik.gov.tr/VeriBilgi.do?alt_id=1051. Accessed 30 Nov 2020.

Mitchell RJ, Bambach M. R, Foster K, Curtis, K. Risk factors associated with the severity of injury outcome for paediatric road trauma. Injury. 2015:46(5):874-82. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2015.02.006.

Kim K, Ozegovic D, Voaklander DC. Differences in incidence of injury between rural and urban children in Canada and the USA: a systematic review. Inj Prev. 2012;18(4):264-71. doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2011-040306.

Briem V, Bengtsson H. Cognition and Character Traits as Determinants of Young Children’s Behaviour in Traf Situations. Int J Behav Dev. 2000;24(4):492-505. doi: 10.1080/016502500750038044.

Schaller B, Hosokawa S, Büttner M, Iizuka T, Thorén H. Occurrence, types and severity of associated injuries of paediatric patients with fractures of the frontal skull base. J Craniomaxillofac Surg. 2012;40(7):218-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jcms.2011.10.028.

AAP Updates Recommendation on Car Seats. https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/AAP-UpdatesRecommendation-on-Car-Seats.aspx. Accessed 30.11.2020.

Akay MA, Gürbüz N, Yayla D, Levent Elemen L, Yıldız Ekingen GY, Esen H, et al. Acil servise başvuran pediatrik travma olgularının değerlendirilmesi. Kocaeli Tıp Dergisi.2013;3:1-5.

Şengül AT, Kutlu T, Büyükkarabacak YB, Yetim TD, Bekdemir OS, Cemgil Öztürk C, et al. Effects of trauma scores on prognosis in chest traumas. Türk Göğüs Kalp Dama. 2012;20(4):805-11. doi: 10.5606/tgkdc.dergisi.2012.158.

Sultanoğlu H, Özkan S, Sultanoğlu TE, Kavak N. Comparison of Trauma Scoring Systems in Pediatric Trauma Patients. Eurasian J Emerg Med. 2019;18(1):1-8. doi: 10.4274/eajem.galenos.2018.94830.

Champion HR, Copes WS, Sacco WJ, Lawnick MM, Keast SL, Bain LW Jr, et al. The Major Trauma Outcome Study: establishing national norms for trauma care. J Trauma. 1990;30:1356-65.

Chan B, Guadry P, Gratton-Smith TM, McNeil R. The Use of Glasgow Coma Scale in Poisoning. J Emerg Med. 1993;11(5):579-82.doi: 10.1016/0736-4679(93)90312-u.

Edirisinghe PA, Kitulwatte ID, Senarathne UD. Injuries in the vulnerable road user fatalities; a study from Sri Lanka. J. Forensic Leg Med. 2014;27:912. doi: 10.1016/j.jflm.2014.07.002.

Al Orf A, Waheed KB, Baig AA, Mohammad KS, El Sirafy MN, Amin MS, et al. Patterns of injury detected by pan-computed tomography after road traffic accidents: retrospective review from a trauma center in Saudi Arabia. Ann Saudi Med. 2018;38(4):245-50. doi: 10.5144/0256-4947.2018.245.

Monchal T, Ndiaye A, Gadegbeku B, Javouhey E, Monneuse O. Abdominopelvic injuries due to road traffic accidents: characteristics in a registry of 162,695 victims. Traffic Inj Prev. 2018;19(5):529-34.doi: 10.1080/15389588.2018.1447669.

Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK). Road Traffic Accident Statistics, 2019. https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Bulten/Index?p=Road-Traffic-Accident-Statistics-2019-33628. Accessed 30 Nov 2020.

Pour-Rouholamin M, Zhou H. Investigating the risk factors associated with pedestrian injury severity in Illinois. J. Safety Res. 2016;57:9–17. doi: 10.1016/j.jsr.2016.03.004.

Küçüker H, Aksu A. Evaluation of traffic accident cases admitted to the emergency department of the Fırat University Hospital in 1997-2001. Tr J Emerg Med. 2003;3(2):11-5.

Törő K, Hubay M, Sotonyi P, Keller E. Fatal traffic injuries among pedestrians, bicyclists and motor vehicle occupants. Forensic Sci Int. 2005;151(2-3):151-6. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2005.01.014.

Karbeyaz K, Balcı Y, Çolak E, Gündüz T. Charateristics of the traffic accidents in Eskişehir between the years 2002 and 2007. J Foren Med. 2009;6(2):65-73.

Kourouma K, Delamou A, Lamah L, Camara BS, Kolie D, Sidibé S, et al. Frequency, characteristics and hospital outcomes of road traffic accidents and their victims in Guinea: aa three-year retrospective study from 2015 to 2017. BMC Public Health. 2019;19(1):1022. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7341-9.

Burstein B, Fauteux-Lamarre E, van As AB. Increased morbidity associated with weekend paediatric road traffic injuries: 10-year analysis of trauma registry data. Injury. 2016;47(6):1236-41. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2016.02.021.

Serinken M, Özen M. Pediyatrik yaş grubunda TK sonucu oluşan yaralanmalar ve özellikleri. Ulus TravmaAcil Cerrahi Derg. 2011;17(3):24347. doi: 10.5505/tjtes.2011.13845.

Embleton DB, Ertoran İ, Özkan A, Mersin H, Tekeli MC. Trafik kazalarında çocukluk çağında mortalite ve morbiditenin değerlendirilmesi. Kocatepe Tıp Dergisi. 2016;17(3):84-8. doi: 10.18229/kocatepetip.242403

Demirel B, Demircan A, Akar T, Keles A, Bildik F. What is the Real Number of Deaths due to Traffic Accidents in Our Country? Pamukkale Medical Journal. 2010;3(2):70-6.

Hilal A, Meral D, Arslan M, Gülmen M, Eryılmaz M, Karanfil R. Evaluation of deaths due to traffic accidents in Adana. Adli Tıp Bülteni. 2004;9(3):74-8.

Getachew S, Ali E, Tayler-Smith K, Hedt-Gauthier B, Silkondez W, Abebe D, et al. The burden of road traffic injuries in an emergency department in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Public Health Action. 2016;6(2):66-71. doi: 10.5588/pha.15.0082.

Sanyang E, Peek-Asa C, Bass P, Young TL, Daffeh B, Fuortes LJ. Risk factors for road traffic injuries among different road users in the Gambia.Journal of environmental and public health. J Environ Public Health. 2017;2017:8612953. doi: 10.1155/2017/8612953.

Eliaçık K, Kanık A, Kılıç TY, Karadaş U, Arıcı ZS, Metecan A, et al. Bir eğitim araştırma hastanesi çocuk acil servisine başvuran trafik kazalarının değerlendirilmesi. Smyrna Tıp Dergisi. 2013;20-3.