[Pediatric traumatic injuries requiring hospitalization. A serious health problem].

OBJECTIVE: To identify the age-adjusted prevalence of pediatric traumatic injuries requiring hospitalization.

METHODOLOGY: A retrospective, observational cross-sectional study was carried out in the pediatric trauma department at the Hospital Magdalena de las Salinas of Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social. Data from all pediatric patients hospitalized between January 1998 and December 2005 due to traumatic injuries were included.

RESULTS: 5,987 patients analyzed; 66.9% were male, 46.0% were children; 31.3% preschoolers; 18.2% adolescents and 4.4% infants. Regarding the injuries, 48.2% were injured at home, 74.8% suffered closed fractures, particularly among preschoolers and children; 12.4% suffered open fractures. Craneoencephalic trauma occurred in 34.2%, mostly in children and adolescents. Among preschoolers and children supracondylar fractures of the humerus occurred in 23.0%; the commonest was type IV (94%); physeal fractures occurred in 2.6% and lesions due to battered children were in 0.31%. As to the treatment, infants and preschoolers were treated through cast immobilization; closed reduction and internal fixation was common in school-age children (27%) while open reduction and external fixation was used in adolescents (26.8%).

CONCLUSIONS: Preventive measures should be encouraged in the group with the highest prevalence of traumatic injuries requiring hospital care: male school-age children who predominantly suffer craneoencephalic trauma and supracondylar fractures of the humerus.