Children and adolescents deaths from trauma-related causes in a Brazilian City

Abstract

IntroductionInjury is the first cause of death worldwide in the population aged 1 to 44. In developed countries, the most common trauma-related injuries resulting in death during childhood are traffic accidents, followed by drowning.MethodsThis retrospective study based on autopsy examinations describes the epidemiology profile of deaths by trauma-related causes in individuals younger than 18 years from 2001 to 2008 in the city of Campinas. The aim is to identify epidemiology changes throughout the years in order to develop strategies of prevention.ResultsThere were 2,170 deaths from all causes in children < 18 years old, 530 of which were due to trauma-related causes, with a male predominance of 3.4:1. The age distribution revealed that 76% of deaths occurred in the 10-17 age group. The most predominant trauma cause was firearm injury (47%). Other frequent causes were transport-related injuries (138 cases-26%; pedestrians were struck in 57.2% of these cases) and drowning (55 cases-10.4%). Asphyxia/suffocation was the cause of death in 72% of cases in children < 1 year old; drowning (30.8%) was predominant in the 1-4 age group; transport-related deaths were frequent in the 5-9 age group (56%) and the 10-14 age group (40.4%). Gun-related deaths were predominant (68%) in the 14-17 age group. 51% of deaths occurred at the scene.ConclusionsThere was a predominance of deaths in children and adolescents males, between 15-17 years old, mainly from gun-related homicides, and the frequency has decreased since 2004 after the disarmament statute and the combating of violence.

Injury-related Pediatric Mortality in Shiraz, Iran: A Community-based Survey

“…Similar to our results, reports from Brazil and Lorestan showed that children older than 15 years had the highest mortality due to firearms (10,26). This may be explained by higher rates of retaliatory attitudes (32) and easier access to firearms (33) in children of this age category.…”

“…On the contrary, our results showed that all cases of aspiration were accidental in infants and children up to five years. This is in concordance with reports from Brazil and Japan (4,26). Also, airway obstruction was the most common cause of injury -related mortality in a report from Tehran (27).…”

“…This difference might be due to a lower age range of the Tehran study population with a lower risk of facing highly fatal injuries that kill the subject quickly at the scene. Also, in accordance with our finding, in the Brazil and San Diego reports, most cases died within the first 24 hours (3,26). This might be due to the severity of events or it can be due to more vulnerability of children against injuries.…”

“…In most previous reports like our study, the majority of cases died at the scene (3,26) in contrast to the Tehran study on children less than 5 years of age that most cases died at the hospital (27). This difference might be due to a lower age range of the Tehran study population with a lower risk of facing highly fatal injuries that kill the subject quickly at the scene.…”

Patterns of Injury and Mortality in Pediatric Patients Attending Emergency Department in a Tertiary Care Center in Eastern Nepal

“…The study showed that epidemiology varies regarding the pattern of injuries. 1,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] As study done by Chawdhury et al, 15 this study also revealed burns & electrical Injury (0.9%) as one of the causes of childhood injury. 14 Childhood injury by electrocution occurs when children are playing near electric equipments or near fire materials.…”