The prognosis of trauma among children and the factors contributing to it

Hojjat Derakhshanfar, Hamidreza Hatamabadi, Kiandokht Karimian, Ali Abdalvand, Ali Arhami Dolatabadi, Ali Shahrami, Majid Shojaee

Emergency Medicine Department, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

DOI: 10.4236/health.2012.44032                

Abstract

Background: The role of prognosis-prediction by scoring systems is an issue of importance to decrease the mortality rate in children with trauma. In this study, our goal was to evaluate the prognosis of trauma among children younger than 17 years of age and the contributing factors in the setting of a teaching hospital. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, we evaluated 151 consecutive children, younger than 17 years of age, victims of trauma who were admitted to a teaching hospital in Tehran, Iran between November 2009 and March 2010. Results: In this study, the mean PTS was 11.04 that this variable was 7.58 in cases with morbidity which was significantly higher than non-morbid cases (P = 0.001). Conclusions: The result of our study indicates that pediatric trauma scoring system can be used as a tool to predict the prognosis of trauma in children.

Keywords

Children; Trauma; Prognosis; Pediatric Trauma Score

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Behrman, R.E., et al. (2004) Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 17th Edition, Philadelphia, 1676-1677.
[2]	Cooper, A., Barlow, B., Davidson, L., Relethford, J., O’Me- ara, J. and Mottley, L. (1992) Epidemiology of pediatric trauma: Importance of population-based statistics. Journal of Pediatric Surgery, 27, 149-153. doi:10.1016/0022-3468(92)90303-O
[3]	Guice, K.S., Cassidy, L.D. and Oldham, K.T. (2007) Traumatic injury and children: A national assessment. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 63, S68-S86. doi:10.1097/TA.0b013e31815acbb6
[4]	Hatamabadi, H., Vafaee, R., Haddadi, M., Abdalvand, A., Esnaashari, H. and Soori, H. (2012) Epidemiologic study of road traffic injuries by road user type characteristics and road environment in Iran: A community-based approach. Traffic Injury Prevention, 13, 61-64. doi:10.1080/15389588.2011.623201
[5]	Tepas, J.J., Frykberg, E.R., Schinco, M.A., Pieper, P. and DiScala, C. (2003) Pediatric trauma is very much a surgical disease. Annals of Surgery, 237, 775-781. doi:10.1097/01.SLA.0000068118.01520.86
[6]	Haley, S.M., Graham, R.J. and Dumas, H.M. (2004) Out-come rating scales for pediatric head injury. Journal of Intensive Care Medicine, 19, 205-219. doi:10.1177/0885066604265798
[7]	Sise, M.J. and Sise, C.B. (2006) Measuring trauma center injury prevention activity: an assessment and reporting tool. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 60, 444-447. doi:10.1097/01.ta.0000196935.60165.21
[8]	Buckley, J.C. and McAninch, J.W. (2006) The diagnosis, management, and outcomes of pediatric renal injuries. Urologic Clinics of North America, 33, 33-40. doi:10.1016/j.ucl.2005.11.001
[9]	Furnival, R.A. and Schunk, J.E. (1999) ABCs of scoring systems for pediatric trauma. Pediatric Emergency Care, 15, 215-223. doi:10.1097/00006565-199906000-00013
[10]	Kapklein, M.J. and Mahadeo, R. (1997) Pediatric trauma. Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine, 64, 302-310.
[11]	Knapp, J.F. (1998) Practical issues in the care of pediatric trauma patients. Current Problems in Pediatrics, 28, 309-320. doi:10.1016/S0045-9380(98)80063-7
[12]	Marx, J.A., et al. (2002) Rosen’s Emergency medicine: Concepts and clinical practice. 5th Edition, Mosby Inc., Philadelphia, 842-850.
[13]	Grinkeviciute, D.E., kevalas, R., Saferis, V., Matukevicius, A., Ragaisis, V. and Tamasauskas, A. (2007) Predictive value of scoring system in sever pediatric head injury. Medicina, 43, 861-869.
[14]	Potoka, D.A., Schall, L.C. and Ford, H.R. (2001) Development of a novel age-specific pediatric trauma score. Journal of Pediatric Surgery, 36, 106-112. doi:10.1053/jpsu.2001.20023
[15]	Narci, A., Solak, O., Turhan-Haktanir, N., et al. (2009) The prognostic importance of trauma scoring systems in pediatric patients. Pediatric Surgery International, 25, 25-30. doi:10.1007/s00383-008-2287-5
[16]	Cantais, E., Paut, O., Giorgi, R., Viard, L. and Camboulives, J. (2001) Evaluating the prognosis of multiple, severely traumatized children in the intensive care unit. Intensive Care Medicine, 27, 1511-1517. doi:10.1007/s001340101039
[17]	Matos, R.I., Holcomb, J.B., Callahan, C. and Spinella, P.C. (2004) Increased mortality rates of young children with traumatic injuries at a US army combat support hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. Pediatrics 2008, 122, 959-966. doi:10.1542/peds.2008-1244