Abstract
IntroductionInjury is the first cause of death worldwide in the population aged 1 to 44. In developed countries, the most common trauma-related injuries resulting in death during childhood are traffic accidents, followed by drowning.MethodsThis retrospective study based on autopsy examinations describes the epidemiology profile of deaths by trauma-related causes in individuals younger than 18 years from 2001 to 2008 in the city of Campinas. The aim is to identify epidemiology changes throughout the years in order to develop strategies of prevention.ResultsThere were 2,170 deaths from all causes in children < 18 years old, 530 of which were due to trauma-related causes, with a male predominance of 3.4:1. The age distribution revealed that 76% of deaths occurred in the 10-17 age group. The most predominant trauma cause was firearm injury (47%). Other frequent causes were transport-related injuries (138 cases-26%; pedestrians were struck in 57.2% of these cases) and drowning (55 cases-10.4%). Asphyxia/suffocation was the cause of death in 72% of cases in children < 1 year old; drowning (30.8%) was predominant in the 1-4 age group; transport-related deaths were frequent in the 5-9 age group (56%) and the 10-14 age group (40.4%). Gun-related deaths were predominant (68%) in the 14-17 age group. 51% of deaths occurred at the scene.ConclusionsThere was a predominance of deaths in children and adolescents males, between 15-17 years old, mainly from gun-related homicides, and the frequency has decreased since 2004 after the disarmament statute and the combating of violence.
Highlights
Injury is the first cause of death worldwide in the population aged 1 to 44
The aim of this study is to analyze all fatal injuries from trauma-related causes among children and adolescents under 18 years old of age, occurring between 2001 and 2008 in Campinas, in order to identify age groups at risk, mechanism changes during this time period, and develop strategies to decrease the burden through injury prevention activities
Asphyxia/suffocation was the cause of injury in 72% of deaths in group < 1 year; drowning (30.8%) and transport-related injuries (22.8%) were more predominant in the 1-4 age group; transport-related deaths were frequent in the 5-9 age group (56%) and 10-14 age group (40.4%) whilst firearm injuries had the highest frequency in the group 14-17 age group (68%)-Table 1
Summary
Injury is the first cause of death worldwide in the population aged 1 to 44. The most common trauma-related injuries resulting in death during childhood are traffic accidents, followed by drowning. External causes of injuries are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents worldwide and each year more than 950,000 children under the age of 18 die of an injury [1]. Injuries due to motor vehicle accidents are the most common [2,9,10,11]. This high incidence of transport-related deaths is observed in some developing countries such as China, India and Qatar [12,13,14]
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