Objective: This study aims to assess the epidemiology of paediatric injury in Beirut, giving insights into their characteristics, contributing risk factors and outcomes.
Design and setting: A retrospective study was conducted to review medical charts for children aged 0-15 years presented to five hospital emergency departments (ED) located in Beirut over a 1-year period (June 2017-May 2018).
Participants: A total of 1142 trauma-related visits for children under 15 years of age were included. A descriptive analysis and a bivariate analysis were performed to investigate admitted and treated/discharged patients.
Primary outcome: A logistic regression was conducted to identify factors associated with hospital admission among injured children.
Results: A total of 1142 cases of paediatric injury ED cases were sampled, mean age was 7.7±4.35 years. Children aged 0-5 years accounted for more than one-third of the total cases, 40.0% (206/516) of the fall injuries and 60.1% (220/366) of home injuries. The leading cause of paediatric injury was fall (45.2%), nearly 4.1% of the cases were admitted to hospitals. Factors associated with admission included injury to abdomen (OR=8.25 (CI 1.11 to 61.24)), to upper extremity (OR=5.79 (CI 2.04 to 16.49)), to lower extremity (OR=5.55 (95% CI 2.02 to 15.20) and other insurance type (OR=8.33 (CI 2.19 to 31.67)). The three types of injuries mostly associated with hospital admission were fracture (OR=13.55 (CI 4.77 to 38.44)), concussion (OR=13.60 (CI 2.83 to 65.41)) and organ system injury (OR=31.63 (CI 3.45 to 290.11)).
Conclusions: Injury remains a major health problem among the paediatric population in Lebanon. Parental child safety educational programmes and age-targeted injury prevention strategies should be initiated and implemented to mitigate the burden of child injuries and improve child safety and well-being.
Keywords: accident & emergency medicine; epidemiology; public health; trauma management.
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