Age-related differences in injury pattern and hospital stay after paediatric trauma

Results Injury type and mechanism were significantly different between the four groups (p<0.0001). The leading cause of trauma were burn injuries (65%) in patients aged less than 1 year, burn injuries (49%) and blunt trauma (49%) in children between 1-5 years, and blunt trauma (81%/ 82%) in 6-10 and 11-15 year old children. Mechanisms of blunt trauma were mainly road traffic accidents, followed by fall accidents. In total, eight (2%) patients had penetrating trauma. ISS increased with age, however not significantly (p=0.19), median ISS 9, 9, 10, and 11 respectively. With increasing age, a significant decline in total length of stay was observed, median 20, 15, 9, and 9 days respectively (p=0.005). However, patients aged 6 or more had a significantly longer stay at the ICU, median 0, 0, 1, and 1 day respectively (p=0.002).