2023 Turkey-Syria Earthquakes: Analysis of pediatric victims admitted to a tertiary center

Abstract

Abstract Background: On February 6th, 2023, two consecutive earthquakes occurred in southeastern Türkiye, of which the epicenter for both was Kahramanmaraş, with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6, respectively. Herein, it was aimed to analyze the clinical and laboratory findings, and management of pediatric victims admitted to our center. Methods: Patients who were admitted to our center after the earthquakes were included in the study. Clinical and laboratory characteristics of the patients were taken from their records. Results: Included in the study were 649 pediatric earthquake victims. Acute kidney injury (AKI) was observed in 16 patients. White blood cell count (15624.06 ± 7964.67, 11807 ± 1.93 × 103/mL, P < 0.001), creatinine (0.76 ± 1.04 vs. 0.42 ± 0.52 mg/dL, P = 0.021), and C-reactive protein (74.00 ± 76.96 vs. 19.70 ± 38.94 mg/L, P < 0.001) levels were higher, while the sodium (133.78 ± 5.38 vs. 136.67 ± 5.41 mEq/L, P < 0.001) levels were lower in the patients with Crush Syndrome (CS) compared to the non-CS patients. Intravenous fluid replacement was administered to the patients with CS at a dose of 4000 cc/m2/day. Hypokalemia was observed in 51.9% of the CS patients on the third day. All of the patients with AKI ameliorated and no deaths occurred. Conclusions: Hyponatremia and an increase in inflammation markers may be observed associated with CS. Hypokalemia may be seen as a complication of vigorous fluid therapy during hospitalization. Early fluid replacement therapy is essential to prevent the development of AKI in patients with CS.