بررسي اپيدميولوژي حوادث در كودكان مراجعه كننده به اورژانس بيمارستانهاي اهواز

EPIDEMIOLOGY OF INJURIES AMONG CHILDREN ATTENDING AT ACCIDENT & EMERGNCY DEPARTMENTS (A & E DEPTS) IN AHWAZ

Using of epidemiological findings on injuries has been shown as an important step on accident prevention program . This study aimed to describe the occurrence of childhood injuries in Ahwaz and to show the distribution of these injuries by time, place, and person. This study was cross- sectional in design and data was collected from children aged under 15 years attended to one of the 17 A & E depts. of Ahwaz in 1378(1998-9). information gathering was carried out within 24 days of the year that were randomly selected by months. In each seclected day, data from all injured children attented to A & E depts, were collected within 24 hours. Overall 9738 children attended, of them 1558 (16.0%) were injured . Boys compared to girls were more likely to be injured (68% vs. 32% , P<0.001) , and 14.7% of injured children were accident repeaters. The most important places that accidents were taken place were at home (58.7%) , streets (33.0%), schools, (5.0%), pukes/ public places (2.8%), and other places (0.5%). Most accidents occurred in Aban (November) (11.3%) . Stroke by objects (37.2%), falls (22.8%), and traffic accidents (10.6%), were more common than other causes. Differences in distribution of childhood injuries by time, place and person in this study may help the policy makers to improve the injury prevention programs. The high incidence of childhood injuries in Ahwaz point out the importance of the problem and reinforce the childrenʹs injury prevention programs as a priority in health programs. More studies on circumstances of accident occurrence in children is recommended.