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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Children's injuries are a growing global public health problem. It can be divided into intentional and unintentional injuries based on intent. Unintentional injuries include road traffic accidents (RTA), falls, burns, poisoning, drowning, occupational injuries, and injuries in disaster situations, whereas intentional ones include suicide, assault, child maltreatment, and homicides.
AIM: The study aimed to measure the frequency of unintentional injuries among children, to determine the different types and patterns of injuries, as well as the consequent morbidity and mortality.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 275 cases of children less than 18 years of age admitted to the Menoufia University Hospital emergency room due to unintentional trauma over one year.
RESULTS: Males were around three times greater than females, accounting for 71.5% of the investigated sample. Road traffic accidents (RTA) accounted for 58.9% of all injury cases, followed by burn injuries (25.6%), and lastly, fall from height (15.6%). Recovery was the most frequent outcome (72.2%), followed by cases released against medical recommendation (11.1%), while 10% of patients experienced complications such as infection or permanent disability, and 6.7% died.
CONCLUSIONS: Unintentional injuries are a major global health problem and one of the leading causes of death, hospitalization, and disability worldwide. Road traffic injuries (RTA), falls and burns are the most frequent causes of unintentional injuries in children in Egypt. Recommendations: Preventive measures include protecting children from hot liquids, enhancing pedestrian safety, monitoring bathing and using stair-blocking gates. Continuous monitoring and specialized injury prevention studies are needed to support the implementation of injury prevention techniques.
Language: en |