Predictive Indicators for the Severity of Pediatric Trauma and the Prevention of Injuries According to the General Characteristics and Pre-hospital Factors of Severe Pediatric Trauma Patients

소아 중증 외상환자의 병원 전 요인에 따른 중증 손상의 예측과 손상의 예방

  • Woo, Jae-Hyug (Department of Emergency Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Yang, Hyuk Jun (Department of Emergency Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Lim, Yong Su (Department of Emergency Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Cho, Jin Seong (Department of Emergency Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Kim, Jin Joo (Department of Emergency Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Park, Won Bin (Department of Emergency Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Jang, Jae Ho (Department of Emergency Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Lee, Gun (Department of Emergency Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center)
  • 우재혁 (가천대학교 길병원 응급의학교실) ;
  • 양혁준 (가천대학교 길병원 응급의학교실) ;
  • 임용수 (가천대학교 길병원 응급의학교실) ;
  • 조진성 (가천대학교 길병원 응급의학교실) ;
  • 김진주 (가천대학교 길병원 응급의학교실) ;
  • 박원빈 (가천대학교 길병원 응급의학교실) ;
  • 장재호 (가천대학교 길병원 응급의학교실) ;
  • 이근 (가천대학교 길병원 응급의학교실)
  • Received : 2013.12.19
  • Accepted : 2014.07.08
  • Published : 2014.09.30

Abstract

Purpose: Trauma is one of the most common causes of death for children, and identifying severely injured children quickly in an overcrowded emergency room (ER) is difficult. Therefore, severe injury must be prevented, and the severity of injuries in children must be determined easily from their general characteristics and pre-hospital factors. Methods: Injured children younger than 15 years of age who visited the ER from June 2011 to May 2013 were enrolled. According to the revised trauma score (RTS) of the patients, the study population was divided in two groups, a severe group (RTS<7) and a mild group ($RTS{\geq}7$). The general characteristics and the pre-hospital factors were compared between the two groups. Results: Six hundred seventy-three children were enrolled, their mean age was 8.03 (${\pm}4.45$) years, and 476 (70.73%) patients were male. Of these patients, 22 patients (3.27%) were in the severe group, and 651 patients (96.73%) were in the mild group. Fewer males were in the severe group than in the mild group (50.00% vs. 71.43%, p=0.030), and children in the severe group were younger than children in the mild group (3.50 vs. 8.00 years, p=0.049). In the severe group, toddlers (54.55%, p=0.036) were the most common age group. Severe injuries occurred more often in spring (32.81%) and summer (54.56%) than in autumn (9.09%) and winter (4.55%) (p=0.026). The most common places of injury in the severe group were roads (50.00%, p=0.009), and the most common mechanisms of injury in the severe group were traffic accidents (50.00%), followed by falls (31.82%) (p=0.011). Most severely injured children were transferred by ambulance (72.73%, p=0.000). Conclusion: The results of this study may be helpful for identifying severely injured children quickly in the field and the ER. To prevent severe pediatric injuries, precautions and policies based on these results should be established.

Keywords

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