英文摘要 |
Childhood accidental injuries have been recognized as the leading causes of fatal injuries in children. A total of 1538 consecutive cases of children under 12 years old sustaining trauma which defined by external cause of injury (E codes) were retrieved in National Cheng Kung University Hospital from October 2001 to September 2002. The result showed that 69% of the sample was under 6 years of age, with peaks under the ages of 2 year and between 2 and 4 years (24.1% and 27.4%, respectively). Male predominated over female up to 170%. Accidents occurred more frequently on weekdays; without significant different in seasons; with the peak incidence rate during the time period from 6 to 12 PM. The home was the scene for 64.2% of childhood accidents, followed by streets or roadways, school and outdoors. Slips & tumbles (STs; 34.5%) were the leading causes of childhood injuries, followed by falls, hurts, traffic accident, choking, burns, and poisoning. Detailed inspection of STs cases revealed that 48.7% of these accidents caused by playing and running and 58.0% occurred in school. The falls occurred mostly from furniture, with peaks under the ages of 2 years. A total of 937 children (67.3%) sustained craniofacial injuries, with peaks under the ages of 2 years and between 2 and 4 years (80.1% and 74.3%, respectively). These findings indicated that the home is a potentially dangerous environment for children, and people should pay more attention to eliminate the risk factors in the environment to prevent children from accidents. STs are more prevalent than other causes; however, falls are associated with greater trauma morbidity. |