Clinical scoring systems in predicting health-related quality of life of children with injuries.

The aim of the study was to explore the association between Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Paediatric Index of Mortality (PIM2) and Injury Severity Score (ISS), and the long-term outcome of children with injuries. The health related quality of life (HRQL) was assessed by using the Royal Alexandra Hospital for children Measure of Function (RAHC MOF), 12 months post discharge. Out of 118 children with injuries (9% of all patients), 75 had injury of the head as the leading injury. There were no significant differences at admission in the severity of clinical condition, as expressed by PIM2 and ISS, between patients with head injuries and patients with other injured leading body regions. Children with head injuries had significantly worse HRQOL than children with other leading injured body region (p < 0.045), and children from road traffic accidents had significantly worse HRQL (p = 0.004), compared to other mechanisms of injury. HRQL correlated significantly with GCS (p = 0.027), but not with ISS and PIM2. As the conclusion, among all scoring systems applied, only GCS, which demonstrates severity of head injury, showed significant impact on long-term outcome of injured children.

[Children with injuries treated in hospital emergency departments]. / Djeca s ozljedama lijecena u bolnickim ambulantama hitnog prijma.

The aim of this study was to determine characteristics of injuries of children admitted to the Emergency Department (ED) of University Hospital Split, and also to define the mechanisms of injuries, as well as the type and severity of injuries. We evaluated 3,221 children with injuries treated in the ED of the University Hospital of Split in the period from January to July 2009. The following indicators were analyzed: age, gender, anatomic distribution of injuries, mechanism, Injury Severity Score (ISS) and the need for hospital and intensive care admission. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests were used in order to determine statistical relevance of the results. Boys were more often injured than girls (65.6%), and most of the injured children were older than 13 years (41.7%). The majority of patients (96%) had minor injuries (ISS < 10), and only 3.7% of patients were hospitalized. The majority of injuries were caused by falls (71.3%), and limbs were the most frequently injured body region (67.1%). However, road traffic accidents (RTA) required hospitalization more often than any other mechanism (25% of patients), and the leading injury in RTA victims was head injury (38% of patients). Older children were more susceptible to RTAs (64.5%), and the majority of children were injured as passengers in cars (36.4%). Children with head injuries, and those injured in RTAs, were more often hospitalized and more often admitted to intensive care unit than other patients. The most frequently injured body region in children treated in ED are limbs, and the most frequent mechanism of injury is fall. However, the most severe are head injuries, and the majority of severe injuries are caused by RTAs. These data are important for programs of injury prevention.