Demographics and injury characteristics of children and young people cared for in the London Major Trauma System February–April 2018
| All children (n=659) | 0–5 years (n=247) | 6–12 years (n=184) | ≥12 years (n=228) | P value | |
| Male | 426 (64.6) | 145 (59.4) | 114 (62.0) | 167 (73.2) | 0.540 |
| Female | 233 (35.4) | 102 (40.6) | 70 (38.0) | 61 (26.8) | 0.008 |
| Mechanism of injury | |||||
| Blunt | 596 (90.4) | 243 (98.3) | 175 (95.1) | 178 (78.1) | |
| Penetrating | 63 (9.6) | 4 (1.7) | 9 (4.9) | 50 (21.9) | <0.001 |
| Fall | 372 (56.5) | 184 (74.7) | 109 (59.2) | 79 (34.6) | <0.001 |
| RTC | 83 (12.6) | 13 (5.3) | 35 (19) | 36 (15.8) | <0.001 |
| Assault (all) | 63 (9.5) | 6 (2.4) | 5 (2.7) | 52 (22.8) | <0.001 |
| Assault blunt | 22 (3.3) | 6 (2.4) | 4 (2.2) | 12 (5.3) | 0.133 |
| Assault penetrating | 41 (6.2) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.5) | 40 (17.5) | <0.001 |
| Other* | 139 (21.1) | 43 (17.5) | 35 (19) | 61 (26.7) | 0.034 |
| Location of injury | |||||
| Home | 241 (40.5) | 167 (70.8) | 44 (27.5) | 31 (15.6) | <0.001 |
| School | 98 (16.5) | 16 (2.5) | 45 (28.1) | 37 (18.6) | <0.001 |
| Street | 152 (25.5) | 21 (8.9) | 46 (28.8) | 85 (42.7) | <0.001 |
| Other† | 102 (17.1) | 32 (13.6) | 25 (15.6) | 46 (23.1) | 0.026 |
| Body region injured | |||||
| Head | 252 (39.6) | 121 (51.9) | 65 (36.1) | 66 (29.5) | <0.001 |
| Upper limb | 133 (20.9) | 47 (20.2) | 51 (28.3) | 35 (15.6) | 0.007 |
| Lower limb | 113 (17.7) | 26 (11.2) | 35 (19.4) | 52 (23.2) | 0.002 |
| Abdomino-thoracic | 25 (3.9) | 1 (0.4) | 1 (0.5) | 23 (10.3) | <0.001 |
| Pelvis | 4 (1.7) | 0 (0) | 2 (1.1) | 2 (0.9) | 0.302 |
| Spine | 19 (8) | 1 (0.4) | 8 (4.4) | 10 (4.5) | 0.002 |
| Soft tissue | 26 (11) | 17 (7.3) | 2 (1.1) | 7 (3.1) | 0.005 |
| Face | 23 (9.7) | 13 (5.6) | 8 (4.4) | 2 (0.9) | 0.021 |
| Polytrauma‡ | 27 (11.4) | 2 (0.8) | 5 (2.8) | 20 (9.9) | <0.001 |
| Management | |||||
| MTC level care | 343 (52) | 126 (51.0) | 91 (49.5) | 126 (55.3) | 0.462 |
| Required surgery | 194 (29.4) | 50 (20.2) | 72 (39.1) | 72 (31.5) | <0.001 |
| Intensive care admission | 22 (3.3) | 5 (2.0) | 7 (3.8) | 10 (4.4) | 0.329 |
All data are presented as n (%).
Denominator changes where data were missing: Mechanism of injury: n=658 (blunt vs penetrating n=659), 0–5 years n=246. Location of injury: all n=595, 0–5 years, n=236, 6–12 years, n=160, 12+ years, n=199. Body region injured: all n=637, 0–5 years, n=233, 6–12 years, n=180, 12+ years, n=224.
p≤0.05 was considered statistically significant, denoted in bold type.
*Other includes sports injury, burns, deliberate self-harm.
†Other includes parks/recreation facilities/playgrounds, sports grounds, soft play locations.
‡Polytrauma defined as injury to > 1 body region.
MTC, major trauma centre; RTC, Road Traffic Collision.