Severe Musculoskeletal Injuries in Children during Play

Abstract

Introduction: Musculoskeletal injuries are common in children but rarely severe. Their treatment varies according to the type of injury observed. The aim was to describe the epidemiological and therapeutic aspects of severe musculoskeletal injuries in children during play. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted in the Orthopaedic-Traumatology Department and the Paediatric Surgery Unit of the University Hospital of Bouaké between January 2018 and December 2020. It concerned patients less than 16 years of age hospitalised for more than 24 hours for a musculoskeletal trauma following a gambling accident. The variables studied were epidemiological and therapeutic. Results: A total of 53 patients were collected. The frequency was 2.9%. The mean age was 9 ± 3.99 years. There were 38 (71.7%) boys and 15 (28.3%) girls. The sex ratio was 2.5. The patients were attending school in 79.3% (n = 42). The circumstances of occurrence were dominated by falls during play accidents (n = 35; 66%). Football was observed in 93.5% (n = 49). The thoracic limb (n = 35; 66%) was the preferred site of these injuries. The injuries were closed (86.7%) with a predominance of forearm fractures (n = 22; 41.6%). The average hospital stay was 2.8 ± 1.4 days. Most of the patients were treated orthopedically (n = 37; 69.9%). The evolution was favourable without complications. Conclusion: Musculoskeletal injuries during play were infrequent (2.9%). The circumstances were dominated by falls during play. The injuries were mainly closed fractures, most of which were treated orthopedically.

Epidemiological Pattern of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Children Aged 16 Years and Below in a Regional Trauma Centre in Nigeria

“…A total of 90 children were included in this study, out of which 58 (64.4%) were males and the remaining 32 (35.6%) were females, presenting a male:female ratio of 1.8:1. The preponderance of male children as the most frequently injured sex has been the usually observed trend in the literature [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 11 , 12 , 17 , 18 ]. The observed male:female ratio of 1.8:1 in this study is a bit lower than the ratio of 2.1:1 reported by Hussain et al [ 5 ] and Verma et al [ 17 ] but higher than the 1.6:1 and 1.5:1 ratio reported by Nesje et al [ 2 ] and Hedström et al [ 19 ], respectively.…”