Transport accidents among children and adolescents at the emergency service of a teaching hospital in the southern zone of the city of São Paulo.

OBJECTIVE

to describe the victim profile and circumstances of transport accidents involving children and adolescents who were attended at a teaching hospital in the southern zone of the city of São Paulo.

METHODS

this was an individual observational case series study among patients up to the age of 19 years who were attended at a hospital in the southern zone of the city of São Paulo, state of São Paulo, Brazil, due to traffic accidents. The files notifying suspected or confirmed cases of violence and accidents (SIVVA files) covering January to December 2012 were analyzed.

RESULTS

among the 149 cases notified, 64.4% related to males and 35.6% to females. The transport accidents were predominantly among males, irrespective of age. The main injury diagnoses were superficial head trauma (24.8%) followed by multiple non-specified trauma (36.4%), in both sexes.

CONCLUSION

transport accidents among children and adolescents occurred more often among males. The main transport accidents among the children and adolescents attended as emergency cases were caused by motor vehicles and motorcycles. Among the accident victims, the largest proportion was attended because of being run over.