Abstract

Pattern of Accidents in Children Less than 14 Years in Abha City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Author(s):Mohammad Ahmad A. Alqahtani, Maram Mohammed A. Alshahrani, Norah Aedh Alfayi, Maha Mohammed Abdullah Alshahrani, Asma Mosfer Algahtani, Abdullah Mohammed A. Alawwad Alqahtani, Abdullah Saeed Almalki and Rishi Kumar Bharti

Objective: To determine the relative frequency and pattern of injuries in children less than 15 years of age in Abha city. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of all children aged 14 years and below seen with accidental injuries in an Emergency Department (ED) over period of 6 months from 1st February 2017 and reviewed their records. Patterns of injury among all children care giver, gender, cause, type of accident, admission and complications were analyzed. Result: Total 285 cases were analyzed with 170 males (59.6%) and 115 females (40.35%). Among them, 277 were Saudi and 8 were non-Saudi, 170 patients were <2 years, 46 patients 2-5 years, 69 patients >5 years, reviewing the care giver 94% were the mother. The causes were foreign body (93 patient with foreign body aspiration, ingestion, ear, nose, and foot), falls (74 patients), burns (73 patients), road traffic accident (38 patients) and others (7 patients). Total 144 patients were discharged from Emergency Room (ER) (50.5%), whereas 119 patients stayed for 1 to 5 days, 13 patients stayed for 6-13 days and 13 patients stayed for 14-30 days. Around 33 patients were admitted to ICU with duration ranging from 1-20 days. Fortunately, no deaths but there were complications involving unilateral hearing loss (4 patients), unilateral visual loss (10 patients) due to blunt trauma to the eye and limping (1 patient). Upon discharge 5 patients had chronic disability (1 patients) with unilateral hearing loss, (2 patients) unilateral visual loss and (2 patients) with limping. Conclusion: Childhood accidents should be emphasized by the public and health care provider in given educational programs about the causes and prevention.

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