Adolescent injuries in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Uruguay: Results from the 2012-2013 Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS).

OBJECTIVES: The goals of this study were to identify the proportion of early adolescents in southern South America who were injured in the past year, to identify risk behaviours and other exposures associated with injuries, and to evaluate the most common types and causes of injury in this population. METHODS: We used complex samples analysis to examine cross-sectional data from more than 35,000 students from all four countries in South America that participated in the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) in 2012-2013. RESULTS: The proportion of students reporting at least one injury in the past year that required medical treatment or caused at least one full day of missed school or usual activities was 27.1% in Argentina, 29.5% in Uruguay, 30.9% in Chile, and 36.8% in Bolivia. Significantly more boys than girls reported injuries. Injured students were more likely than non-injured students to report anxiety-induced insomnia, being physically attacked, being in a physical fight, and being lonely in the past year, and they were also more likely to report being bullied, using tobacco, drinking alcohol, and missing school in the past month. For both boys and girls, the most common type of injury reported was a broken bone or dislocated joint and the most common injury cause was the student falling. However, most students were not able to provide a specific answer to either question. CONCLUSION: The GSHS has been conducted in 100 low- and middle-income countries and territories around the world, and new waves of data collection are currently being planned and implemented. The utility of the injury data from the GSHS would be improved if the injury type and cause response items were updated to better capture information about self-harm, sports injuries, and other statistics that will provide a stronger foundation for evidence-based injury prevention interventions in adolescent populations.

Traumatic tricuspid regurgitation.

Tricuspid valvular insufficiency caused by blunt thoracic trauma may be clinically silent and imprecise. Diagnosis is often done by cardiac catheterization and two-dimensional echocardiography (2-DE); the latter may show abnormalities of the tricuspid leaflet motion. The surgical technique for its correction is still controversial. We report here the case of an eighteen year old man who was involved in a high-speed motorcycle accident. Seven months later, due to dyspnoea and fatigue, 2D-E examination revealed cardiac enlargement and severe tricuspid regurgitation. Surgery was indicated in order to repair valve incompetence. Reinsertion of the chordae tendineae at the anterolateral papillary muscle and annuloplasty was performed and ten months postoperatively, he is in good clinical condition and 2D-E control shows a trivial residual tricuspid insufficiency.

[Postinfarction ventricular septal defect. Surgical approach by right ventriculotomy in 4 patients]. / Comunicación interventricular postinfarto agudo de miocardio. Abordaje quirúrgico por ventriculotomía derecha con éxito en 4 pacientes.

Ventricular septal defect secondary to myocardial infarction still have high mortality. Early and swift surgical repair is needed to obtain adequate results. Surgical exposure of defect through the infarcted left ventricle wall is the usual technique. Nevertheless right ventricular access to the interventricular septum has given excellent results on 4 of our patients. Our results are analyzed.

[Traumatic rupture of the tricuspid valve. Its conservative surgical treatment]. / Rotura traumática de la válvula tricúspide. Tratamiento quirúrgico conservador.

Tricuspid insufficiency caused by blunt chest trauma is rare and usually unsuspected clinically, early after trauma. Cross-sectional Echocardiography and Cardiac Catheterization are essential to establish the diagnosis. Therapy applied varies from repair to valvular replacement. We describe an 18-year-old boy with traumatic tricuspid regurgitation treated by reconstruction of the attachments of the anterosuperior leaflet and annuloplasty with a Puig-Massana ring. Six month after surgery he is fully recovered, although persist a moderate degree of tricuspid insufficiency.