Morbidity due to accidents in children: a one-year study

Abstract

Accidents are among the three first causes of death in the world; they are more frequently in ages from 1 to 14 and over 49. Home accidents show the highest incidence in pediatric ages, mainly falls bearing to crania encephalic traumas. With the objective of knowing accident morbidity, it was decided to carry out an investigation in our hospital on the behavior of accidents in children attending the Miscellaneous ward of the hospital Julio Aristegui from June 2003 to February 2004.An inquiry was applied where the main variables to study are: age, sex, place of the accident occurrence, kind of accident and sequels. The costs per day in hospital, per patients and the most frequently used antibiotics were quantified. The most affected age group was the group from 1 to 5 years old, while male children were predominant. The health area with more incidences was the area of Moncada. The largest number of accidents took place at home or in public places. Falling with cranial traumas and fractures and drinking toxic substances were the predominant accidents. Severe digestive disturbances and skin lesions were the most frequent sequels and a high cost in children receiving surgical treatment.