Injuries are a leading cause of death among children and young adults. Most of these injuries are caused by motor vehicle crashes, falls, and burns. Intentional injuries in all its forms account for over 1.5 million deaths a year. To determine the pattern and characteristics of childhood injuries and to explore the risk factors for such injuries at the emergency department of Suez Canal University Hospital. A cross-sectional study at the emergency department in Suez Canal University Hospital targeted children aged ≤ 18 years presented with an injury from June 2013 to April 2014. The tool in the study was Global Childhood Injury Surveillance Instrument to interview the parents or guardians arriving with injured children. Of the total of 402 injured children, 264 (65.7%) were males and 138 (34.3%) were females. 188 cases (47%) were below 6 years of age. Children travelled an average of 10.5 km to the hospital. Most common type of injuries were falls (29.4%) followed by motor car accidents (17.4%), struck or hit by an object (15.7%), burn (10.4%) and poisoning (8.2%). 44% of childhood intentional injury arrived at the emergency department caused by their friends or acquaintance, 30% by a child, 13% by the unrelated caregiver and 4% by teachers. There were 402 childhood injury-related emergency department visits in Suez Canal University Hospital between June 2013 and April 2014, 152 injury-related inpatient hospitalizations (37.8%) and 21 childhood injury-related deaths (5.2%). 94.3% of them were due to unintentional injuries.
Raise public awareness of speeding, seat-belt wearing and home safety.
Key words: Risk factors, childhood injuries, emergency department of suez canal university hospital
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