Blunt Abdominal Injury in the Young Pediatric Patient: Child Abuse and Patient Outcomes

Abstract

This study sought to evaluate injury causes and patient outcomes in young children with abdominal injuries. Cases of blunt abdominal injury (N = 927) to children ages 0 to 4 years were extracted from the National Pediatric Trauma Registry®. Measures included hospital utilization (days hospitalized, intensive care unit use, and surgery) and patient outcome (in-hospital fatality, discharge to rehabilitation facility, home rehabilitation, and home nursing). The three most common mechanisms of abdominal injury were motor vehicles (61.27%), child abuse (15.75%), and falls (13.59%). Hospital utilization was higher in patients with multisystem injuries. Patient outcomes were more severe in abused children or those with concomitant central nervous system (CNS) injury; these were the only variables independently associated with increased mortality in this sample. Pediatric abdominal trauma leads to intense use of hospital resources and a high risk of in-hospital mortality. Child abuse, compared to falls, is independently associated with a 6-fold increase in in-hospital mortality.