title: Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of injuries among adolescents attended at an emergency service in the city of Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Injuries are an important cause of morbidity during adolescence, but can be avoided through learning about some of their characteristics. This study aimed to identify the most frequent injuries among adolescents attended at an emergency service.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective descriptive study on adolescents attended at the emergency service of the Teaching Health Center, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP), between January 1, 2009, and September 30, 2009.
  
  
  METHODS
  Age, sex, type of injury, site, day and time of occurrence, part of body involved, care received, whether the adolescent was accompanied at the time of injury and whether any type of counseling regarding injury prevention had been given were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 180 adolescents attended, 106 (58.8%) were boys and 74 (41.1%) were girls. Their ages were: 10 to 12 (66/36.6%), 12 to 14 (60/33.3%) and 14 to 16 years (54/30%). The injuries had occurred in public places (47.7%) and at home (21.1%). The main types were bruises (45.1%) and falls (39.2%), involving upper limbs (46.1%), lower limbs (31%) and head/neck (13.1%). The injuries occurred in the afternoon (44.4%) and morning (30%), on Mondays (17.7%) and Thursdays (16.6%). Radiological examinations were performed on 53.8%. At the time of injury, 76.1% of the adolescents were accompanied. Some type of counseling about injury prevention had been received by 39.4%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the injuries were of low severity, preventive attitudes need to be incorporated in order to reduce the risks and provide greater safety for adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. delciamp@fmrp.usp.br
authors.forename: Luiz Antonio Del
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Ciampo
authors.forename: Ivan Savioli
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Ferraz
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tazima
authors.forename: Letícia Graziela
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Bachette
authors.forename: Karla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paixão
mesh_terms: D000056:Accident Prevention / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000059:Accidents / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003376:Counseling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013997:Time Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology