[Epidemiologic and clinical features of childhood falls].
BACKGROUND
Trauma is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for childhood and young adults. Falls are the most common mechanism. for injury children. Aim of this study is to determine the epidemiology and clinical features of falls among children.


METHODS
We retrospectively analysed children under 14 years of age sustained from falls admitted to the our emergency service between January 1997- June 2001.


RESULTS
A total of 1039 children were admitted during the study period. Fa/ls comprised 38% these admissions, and 47% of falls were from balconies.252 patients were male and 141 patients were female. Mean age was 5.23. 62.3 % of children were under the 5 years old. Major injuries included head trauma (57%) extremity trauma ( 16%), and abdominal trauma (11%). Mean ISS score was 9.16 and 32% of children had an, 1SS score was 9,16. Overall mortality rate was 2.23 %.


CONCLUSIONS
Although falls are the significant cause of childhood injury, these injuries are rarely fatal. Most, common type of injury is head trauma. ISS, age, and height are significantly associated with mortality. Key words: Children, trauma,fa/l, epidemiology, mortality.
Bulut
Mehtap
M
Uludag Universitesi Tip FAkultesi Ilk ve Acil Yardim Anabilim Dali, Bursa, Turkey. mehtap@uludag.edu.tr
Korkmaz
Ayhan
A
Akkose
Sule
S
Balci
Veysel
V
Ozguc
Halil
H
Tokyay
Rifat
R
D000007:Abdominal Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001827:Body Height; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005121:Extremities / Q000293:injuries*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology