Pattern of childhood trauma. Indian perspective.

Although infectious diseases are still the chief cause of death in children in a developing country like ours, but a definite increase in incident and related mortality due to trauma has been noted in the last decade. The problems relating to pediatric trauma are peculiar to our setup and differ considerably to the severe multiple organ trauma met with in the high velocity vehicular accidents, seen in developed Western countries. The present study identifies patterns of childhood trauma from our region. It comprises 2100 patients admitted over a 3 years period to Pediatric Surgical Unit. Cranial injuries were the most commonly encountered injuries followed by the abdominal and skeletal injuries. Fall from the house roofs is the commonest mode of injury, although road traffic accidents are also recognized to be on the increase. The overall mortality was 7.7%; its chief determinant being the presence of severe head injury. A few important epidemiological factors involved were identified.