Epidemiologic Feature and Diagnostic Outcome of Traumatic PediatricPatients Referred to Emergency Department of Imam-Reza Hospital,Tabriz, Iran in 2016-2017

Abstract

Introduction: Trauma has been recognized as the leading cause of mortality and morbidityamong children in developed countries. Therefore, it is highly desirable to have a controlprogram in this area. The aim of this study was determining epidemiologic feature and diagnosticoutcome of traumatic pediatric patients referred to emergency department in 2016-2017. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at emergency department,Imam-Reza hospital of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in 2016-2017 on a total of 518traumatic children. Variables of interest were age, gender, location of trauma, mechanism oftrauma, type of transfer to emergency department, time of trauma, and outcome of the incident. Results: Among 518 traumatic children involved in the study, the most common age for traumawas 3-6 years, and 66.4% and 33.6% of the studied population were boys and girls, respectively.Falling (42.5%) was the most common mechanism of trauma, and the most of traumas occurredduring evening (56.9%) and spring (38.8%) time. In additions, 75.5% of traumatic children weretransferred to the emergency department by their family, and among them, only for two casessafety instructions had been considered. Conclusion: In general, the results of this study demonstrated that boys with the age of 3-6 yearsare the most vulnerable group against trauma. Falling and traffic accidents are the main causesof trauma in children, whereas safety devices were not used in the majority of accident cases.Thus, it is highly recommended to use safety equipment for children inside vehicles.