title: Evaluation of unintentional injuries sustained by children: A hospital based study from Ankara-Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Unintentional injuries are one of the leading causes of death, hospitalization and disability across the world. Detailed work on child injury in low-income and middle-income countries began more recently and is now indicating priorities for prevention. This study aims to draw attention to the subject with the assessment of the injuries sustained by the study group.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data of the descriptive study was collected at the Emergency Department's trauma section of a Training and Research Hospital, located in Ankara during the period of October-November 2010. Children visiting the hospital due to an injury under the age of 18 were included to the study group by assent of the child and consent of the parents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the study group 75.3% were boys, 35.31% were 11-15 year of age. The most frequent cause of the injuries were falls among boys (48.3%), girls (50.0%) and, 11-15 years of age (32.8%). Most injured organs (63.6%) were extremities and most frequent damage caused by the injury was fracture (29.5%). Almost half of the injuries (44.0%) occurred in and around the school.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Development and implementation of systematic surveillance is necessary to identify the epidemiologic characteristics of childhood injuries at national level. Definition of the risk factors and protective factors is a priority of countries to prevent such injuries.
authors.affiliation: Piyal Birgul, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Piyal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Birgul
authors.affiliation: Mine Esin Ocaktan, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Esin Ocaktan
authors.affiliation: Recep Akdur, MD, Professor, Department of Public Health, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Recep
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Akdur
authors.affiliation: Yilmaz Mustafa Soner, MD, Research Assistant, Department of Public Health, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yilmaz
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mustafa Soner
authors.affiliation: Ikinci Sevil, MD, Research Assistant, Department of Public Health, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ikinci
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sevil
authors.affiliation: Celik Safa, MD, Forensic Medicine Specialist, Council of Forensic Medicine Yenibosna, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Celik
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Safa
keywords: Childhood injuries; Childhood unintentional injuries; Injury surveillance