Epidemiology of paediatric injury in low income environment: Value of hospital based data prior to the institution of a formal registration system

Mefire, Alain Chichom; Fokou, Marcus

doi:10.4103/0189-6725.120909

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The vast majority (over 95%) of fire-related burns occur in low-and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa and little attention is paid to paediatric injuries [3,4]. Burn injuries are a major cause of prolonged hospital stays, disfigurement, disability, and death in Africa [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortality analysis of burns in a developing country: a CAMEROONIAN experience

Forbinake¹,

Ohandza²,

Fai

et al. 2020

BMC Public Health

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Background: Burns are a serious public health problem worldwide accounting for an estimated 265,000 deaths annually from fires alone. The vast majority (96%) of deaths from fire-related burns occur in low-and middleincome countries and burns are one of the leading causes of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in the developing world. Most burn centres are situated in large cities and are inadequate for the high incidence of injuries. An 8 year review of 440 patients in the Douala General Hospital, showed that the majority of patients burned were males (n = 281, 68.9%), the mean age was 25.2 ± 17.77 years with an admission rate of 69.5% (306 patients). The modal and median age were 31.0 years and 25.0 years respectively, interquartile range (0.4-82). Majority of burns (n = 237, 53.9%) had burn surface area ≥ 10%, most burns were 2nd degree (n = 215, 48.9) and the commonest burn agents were flames (n = 170, 37.3%), electricity (n = 119, 26.3%) and water (n = 114, 25.2%). The paucity of data on burn mortality in Cameroon motivated this study and is aimed at determining the mortality rate, causes and factors associated with death of burnt patients in the burn unit of the Douala General Hospital (DGH). Methods: It was a retrospective observational study carried out from the 1st of January 2008 to the 31st of December 2015 in the Burn Unit of the Douala General Hospital. An adapted questionnaire was used to collect demographic data, burn agents, burn depth; diagnostic delay, burn surface area, complications, comorbidity, mortality and its causes. Data was transferred to Microsoft Excel 2015 and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 for data analysis. Results: During this 8 year period, 440 patients were studied and the mortality rate was 23.4% (103 patients). The fatal burn agents were, flames (n = 69, 67.0%), electricity (n = 15, 14.6%), water (n = 12, 11.6%), contact (n = 4, 3.9%), Oil (n = 2, 1.9%) and chemicals (n = 1, 1.0%). The causes of death were shock (n = 36, 35.0%), sepsis (n = 25, 24.3%), acute respiratory distress (n = 25, 24.3%), acute renal failure (n = 6, 5.8%), severe anaemia (n = 4, 3.9%) and unrecorded causes (n = 7, 6.7%). Conclusion: A quarter of all patients died mostly from flame burns and to a lesser extent, electricity and scalds. Increase in burn depth and burn surface area worsened the prognosis. Shock (the commonest cause of death), sepsis, acute respiratory distress, acute renal failure and wound infection were significantly associated with mortality.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortality analysis of burns in a developing country: a CAMEROONIAN experience

Forbinake¹,

Ohandza²,

Fai

et al. 2020

BMC Public Health

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“…Many other falls would undoubtedly not have led to visits to the hospital, because of distance, severity or other factors. Nevertheless, hospital‐based injury databases can provide critical information to inform policy and population‐based data collection 15 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, hospital-based injury databases can provide critical information to inform policy and population-based data collection. 15 Solomon Islanders use trees for play, food and livelihoods. More supervision of children and awareness of the dangers of falls from trees might reduce the burden of injury.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barking up the wrong tree: injuries due to falls from trees in Solomon Islands

Negin

Vizintin

Houasia³

et al. 2014

Medical Journal of Australia

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“…Unintentional injury was found to be a leading cause of child death and disability in Hong Kong. Among children (age 1-4) and youth (age [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14], injury and poisoning led to 3.1 deaths per 100,000 and 3.7 deaths per 100,000 respectively. From the Child and Health Survey conducted in 2005 to 2006 in Hong Kong, the prevalence of injury that needed medical advice or treatment in children aged 14 and below was 4.4%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It would be essential in reducing the occurrence of such events, with evidence based insights on severity and causes of injury and the resulting mortality. 8,9 On the other hand, economic deprivation should also be considered as western study has identified a higher injury rate in preadolescent children and in the school playground for the low-income group 10 and more children from deprived areas attended with head injured. 11 Given trauma as the greatest reason of morbidity and mortality in paediatric populations worldwide 12 and a recent literature search has identified only six relevant papers identified for Hong Kong with the latest studies being done in 2003, 6 attention should be paid to paediatric trauma population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiology of paediatric trauma in Hong Kong: A multicentre cohort study

Chow

Leung²,

Leung

et al. 2019

Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health

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Introduction: Trauma is the commonest cause of death and major morbidities in children and adolescents worldwide. There has been a lack of data on the epidemiology of trauma among children in Chinese cities include Hong Kong. Therefore the current study was conducted to examine the spectrum of paediatric trauma in Hong Kong and to address knowledge gaps in its epidemiology and prevention. Objective: This study aimed to describe the epidemiological features of paediatric trauma and explore the characteristics in the low income group which would help to guide the design of effective interventions and future research on prevention of paediatric trauma. Method: A descriptive study on the epidemiology of trauma in children ≤18-year-old using a standardised injury registry embedded within a population-based hospital database. Information on demographics, injury type, mechanism, injury severity score (ISS) and injury prevention prioritization score (IPPZ) were collected to identify the epidemiological features and prevention initiatives. Result: The overall female to male ratio was 1: 1.97, which increased with age from 1:1.45 (infant; below 2 years old) to 1:2.67 (adolescent; 12-18 years old). The overall mean ISS was 7.98 (SD 9.18), ISS increased with age significantly (rho = 0.143, P < 0.001). The most common context of trauma included travelling (IPPZ: 59.94, mean ISS 10.2 ± 10.23, n = 402), leisure activities (IPPZ: 52.04, mean ISS 5.6 ± 6.77, n = 312), street/ highway (IPPZ: 70.22, mean ISS 10.48 ± 10.53, n = 475) and home (including garden and out buildings) (IPPZ: 69.56, mean ISS 6.64 ± 7.94, n = 539). Severity of paediatric injuries among low-income group did not differ from the general population. Conclusion: The study provided updated epidemiological characteristics of paediatric trauma, which could be used to guide focus prevention of paediatric trauma. The findings also highlighted further study initiatives including injury surveillance, geographical analysis and environment modification.

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Epidemiology of paediatric injury in low income environment: Value of hospital based data prior to the institution of a formal registration system

Abstract: The data from the present registration system seem to indicate a higher injury rate in pre-adolescent children and in the school playground. The institution of a formal registration system is likely to improve the quality of data recording system.

Cited by 8 publications

References 23 publications

Mortality analysis of burns in a developing country: a CAMEROONIAN experience

Mortality analysis of burns in a developing country: a CAMEROONIAN experience

Barking up the wrong tree: injuries due to falls from trees in Solomon Islands

Epidemiology of paediatric trauma in Hong Kong: A multicentre cohort study

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