[Epidemiologic study of injuries in childhood: the first pediatric trauma registry]. / Estudio epidemiológico de los accidentes en la infancia: Primer Registro de Trauma Pediátrico.

OBJECTIVE: In order to collect and evaluate information concerning aspects of injuries in our pediatric population, we developed the first Spanish Pediatric Trauma Registry. PATIENTS AND METHODS: During 1995, 11,307 patients were seen at our hospital for acute injuries: 521 were admitted to the hospital and are included in our database. Each patient's protocol consists of 103 data points including: patient identification, type, place and mechanism of injury, prehospital care, transport, assessment on admission, severity scores, diagnostic studies, injuries, treatment and morbidity-mortality. RESULTS: We found that accidents were more frequent in males (69) than in females. The predominant age group was 12-15 years (36%). Falls were the leading cause of injury (37%). A pediatric trauma score of 8 or less was seen in 13.4% of the cases. Twenty-nine patients were hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit and 214 needed some surgical treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The utility of this registry is: 1) The knowledge of the epidemiology of our pediatric population. 2) To know and correct prehospital care deficiencies. 3) To improve hospital assistance and to recognize early prognosis factors.