[Epidemiologic and economic impact of child accidents: intensive care and accident consequences in Savoie].

In the context of a descriptive study of accidents occurring to children aged less than 16 yr old conducted in 1986 in Savoie, France (333,200 inhabitants; 74,400 children), the present survey focuses on their consequences during an 18-month period after hospitalization. The authors evaluate both the epidemiological impact of the accidents (14.2% of hospitalized children had mid-term consequences; 6.4% had sequelae, one-third of which were serious) and their economic impact: the medical and social costs of the consequences amounted to 1.4 million francs, totalizing almost 10.5 millions francs for the global cost of the accident after 18 months, in the Savoie department. The authors emphasize the difficulties of making such evaluations.