First Spanish Trauma Registry: Analysis of 1500 cases

Objectives: To develop the first Spanish Pediatric Trauma Registry to colle ct and evaluate information concerning aspects of injuries in our pediatric population. Methods: From January 1995 to August 1998, 35,946 children you nger than 16 years were treated in our hospital for acute injury: 1500 were admitted and included in our database. Our file registry consists of 108 d ata points including: patient identification, type, place and mechanism of injury, pre-hospital care, transport, assessment on admission, severity sco res, diagnostic studies, injuries, treatment morbidity and mortality. Resul ts: Accidents were more frequent in males (68%) than in females. The predom inant age group was 12-15 years of age (34%). Accidents were more frequent in the street (35.1%) than at home (18.9%) or school (13%). Falls and traff ic-related accidents were the leading cause of injury (39% and 21.2%, respe ctively). Two hundred and thirty-five (15.7%) had a Pediatric Trauma Score less than or equal to8. Fifty of these sustained multiple trauma (33%) (Inj ury Severity Score greater than or equal to 15). Musculoskeletal and head t rauma were the most frequent injuries (48.5% and 42.0%, respectively). Surg ical or orthopedic procedures were performed in 906 patients (56.5%). The a verage length of stay was 4.5 days (range 1-93 days). Functional impairment in children older than 4 years of age was found in 413 children (33.3%). W e encountered 7 deaths in the 1500 patients, or an overall mortality of 0.5 %. These 7 deaths were only seen in the I.S.S. greater than or equal to 15 group (50 patients) with 14% mortality. Conclusions: The goals of this Regi stry are to establish the epidemiology of our injured pediatric population, to review patient care, to develop prevention programs and to compare resu lts with other centers so that potential deficiencies can be corrected.