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Epidemiology of paediatric trauma admissions at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre


T Nga’mbi
ES Borgstein

Abstract

We conducted an audit of paediatric trauma admissions to QECH, Blantyre, in September 2003. There were 107 trauma cases representing 8.8% of all paediatric admissions and mean age was 6 years. The commonest cause of trauma was falls (42.9%) followed by burns (31.8%) and road traffic accidents (14.9%). Of the road traffic accidents, only one case was a passenger, the rest were pedestrians hit by moving vehicles. Fracture of limbs was the commonest injury sustained (44.9%) and burns the second commonest injury (31.8%). Most (52.6%) children were brought into hospital within 24 hours of injury while 26.3% came in between 24 hours and 48 hours and 21.1% after 48 hours or more. Death occurred in 7.5% of cases. The mean number of days in hospital was 8.9 days.

Malawi Medical Journal Vol.17(1) 2005: 5-6

Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 1995-7262
print ISSN: 1995-7270