737 Social Deprivation and Its Association with Penetrating Trauma in Children

Abstract

Aims: To look at the association between level of social deprivation and incidence of penetrating trauma in children in London. Methods: We performed a retrospective search of penetrating trauma brought to the accident and emergency department of the Royal London Hospital between May 2008 and December 2009. Of 252 cases of trauma, there were 32 cases of penetrating trauma. 30 cases had complete information regarding residential postcode. Using the website for the office for national statistics, we got the level of social deprivation for the postcodes of the victim's home address. Seven aspects of deprivation, together with their weightings are combined to give an overall score out of 20. Results: Of the 30, 19 (63%) were from an area with a deprivation score of 16 or above, i.e. in the upper quartile. Breadth of spread was from 2 to 20/20. The median score was 16. Discussion: These results were heavily weighted towards North East London as this is the catchment area for the Royal London Hospital. This may have influenced our findings as this area is also high on the national statistics scale for social deprivation. We did not sort for only trauma brought in by the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS), which may have given a less locally skewed picture. Conclusion: Penetrating trauma (stabbing or gun shot wound) is highly linked with social deprivation. We intend to perform an expanded study that could be used to inform local social services as well as targeting injury prevention interventions.