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Injury Prevention
Original article
Childhood injuries in Oman: retrospective review of a multicentre trauma registry data
  1. Amber Mehmood1,
  2. Priyanka Agrawal1,
  3. Katharine A Allen1,
  4. Ammar Al-Kashmiri2,
  5. Ali Al-Busaidi3,
  6. Adnan Ali Hyder1,4
  1. 1 Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
  2. 2 Ministry of Health, Khoula Hospital, Mina Al Fahal, Oman
  3. 3 Ministry of Health, Nizwa Hospital, Nizwa, Oman
  4. 4 Department of Global Health, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Amber Mehmood; amehmoo2{at}jhu.edu

Abstract

Objectives Injuries are among the top causes of hospital-based mortality for adults in Oman. However, little is known about the distribution and risk of injuries among children. This paper describes the epidemiology and risk factors for childhood injuries (0–15 years of age), in two hospitals of Oman.

Methods Data were collected between November 2014 and April 2015 at Khoula and Nizwa Hospitals. All patients between 0 and 15 years with a diagnosis of injury/trauma admitted to the hospital, and those who had trauma team activation in the emergency department were included in the analysis. Descriptive and multivariable Poisson regression analyses were conducted to generate sociodemographic risk factor profiles associated with the need for surgical management of injuries.

Results Out of 795 cases, 59% were under 5 years of age; 67% were males. Around 50% injuries were fall related, followed by exposure to inanimate mechanical forces and transport injuries. Burn injuries were more prevalent in females than males. Three-fourths of all injuries occurred in private residences. Almost 92% injuries were minor (Injury Severity Score <9). Of children with all types of injuries, 303 (40.9%) received surgical treatment. Patients suffering from head injuries (RR 8.8: 95% CI 4.9 to 15.3) or being involved in a burn injury (RR 1.5: 95% CI 0.3 to 7.5) were at increased risk of undergoing surgical treatment.

Conclusion In this study, >30% of injury admissions were children 0–15 years of age. The high incidence of falls, home injuries and burns highlight the need for age-targeted interventions and injury control programmes. Although infrequent, transport injuries and head injuries put children in need of surgical management and prolonged hospital care.

  • injury prevention
  • paediatric surgery

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000310

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors AM conceptualised and designed the trauma registry as well as led the analysis and writing of the article. PA analysed the data and developed subsequent drafts of the manuscript. All authors contributed to writing of the article and provided technical feedback during preparation of the article.

    • Funding This work was funded by The Research Council of Oman through grant # TRC/SRG/RS/13/003.

    • Disclaimer The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official view of the Research Council.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Not required.

    • Ethics approval Ethical approval for the pilot implementation of the registry was obtained from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in USA and Oman’s Ministry of Health.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.