INTRODUCTION:
Many thoughts such as "taken all the books? Finished all his home work? uniform alright?", etc. come to parents minds when the child goes to school. But they do not realize that their child is at the risk on roads.
Pediatric Road traffic accidents (RTA) has become an emerging epidemic / problem "often talked but less considered" so far. This study gives a preliminary report about the facts & factors of Pediatric RTA.
OBJECTIVES:
- To assess the prevalence of pediatric RTA cases coming to hospital.
- To know the various epidemiological factors related to pediatric RTA.
MATERIALS & METHODS:
STUDY PLACE:
Govt. Rajaji Hospital, Madurai.
STUDY PERIOD:
Nov 2004 to April 2005.
STUDY DESIGN:
Observational & Descriptive study.
STUDY POPULATION:
All the RTA Patients below the age of 15 years.
ANALYSIS:
Simple descriptive statistics was applied.
METHODOLOGY:
- Victims of RTA & their relatives were interviewed. A pretested Performa was used to document the related events.
- Identification & Characterization of injuries were done with the help of Orthopedicians & Surgeons.
RESULTS:
- Total RTA cases 2641, Pediatric RTA cases - 240 (9.1%). Sex Distribution: Male - 166 (69.2%), Female - 74 (30.8%), Ratio: 2.2:1. Most common age group - 5 to 14 years. Most commonly affected victims - Children as pedestrians and playing on the road - 76.7%. Most common vehicle involved was 4 wheelers. Time of occurrence mostly 12.00 Noon to 6 pm. Day - Friday, then Saturday. Most common mode of injury - knocked down by vehicle. 0.9% of the driver did not have license.
- 2.1% of the drivers were found to have been intoxicated at the time of RTA.
CONCLUSION:
- Pediatricians play a roll in acute phase for medical management and in a later date for rehabilitation Pediatricians should also take up educational aspects of preventive traumatology in school health programme.
- There is an urgent need for reorientation of pediatric education on RTA.
