Patterns of extremities trauma in children and their management in emergency department in Suez Canal University Hospital, Ismailia, Egypt

Abstract

Background:Extremities trauma is extremely common in the pediatrics age group and many risk factors have been analysed for their role in this type of trauma. The aim of this study was to describe patterns of extremities injuries in children with different types of musculoskeletal injuries.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 270 children attending to Suez Canal University Hospital, Ismailia, Egypt. With different types of musculoskeletal injuries. Differences in gender, anatomic site, circumstances, location of trauma occurrence and trauma level were investigated among three different age groups (pre-school, school and adolescents).

Results:The results showed that males were at a higher risk of extremities trauma than females and the male to female ratio increased with increasing age. The highest incidence of extremities injuries in children occurred in school age group. (66.3%) of injuries occurred after low energy trauma mostly due to falls. Home was the main location of injury occurrence (44.07%), followed by roads (29.63%), playgrounds (17.41%) and school (8.89%). Injuries of upper limbs represented (79.63%) of all injuries. Distal forearm injuries accounted for (30%) of all injured sites and were more frequent in adolescents. (30.37%) of the studied patients were shared in sport behaviour.

Conclusions:The differences which existed in the prevalence of injuries, characteristics and circumstances across the three age groups may be explained by age-related changes in behaviours, together with attending different places.