Non-fatal injuries among boys and girls presenting to Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background. In South Africa (SA), road traffic injuries, homicides and burns are the leading causes of injury-related deaths amongchildren. Injury-related deaths are well documented for SA, but this is not the case for non-fatal injuries.Objectives. To describe the non-fatal injuries sustained among children aged 0 - 13 years, to identify any significant sex differences by agegroup, cause of injury, admission status and injury severity.Methods. The trauma unit database from 1997 to 2016 at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, Cape Town, was utilised for thisanalysis. The prevalence of injuries and the boy/girl ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported.Results. Analysis indicated significant differences by sex for individual injury causes (transport, assault, burns, falls and other injuries),age group, injury severity and admission status. Moderately severe injuries were largely caused by burns, while severe injuries were mostlytransport related. Boys had significantly higher proportions of all injury causes. The boy/girl ratio was lowest for assault (1:18), wheresignificantly more girls aged 1 - 3 and 4 - 6 years were injured. Rape/sexual assault was 5.5 times higher for girls, with a significantly higherproportion of moderate-severity injuries (87%; 95% CI 84.7 - 89.4).Conclusion. The study findings call for a more targeted prevention response for boy and girl children. Interventions should be targeted atthe prevention of burns, traffic collisions and interpersonal violence, in particular sexual assaults against girls.
Date Issued
2022-07-01
Date Acceptance
2022-04-07
Citation
SAMJ South African Medical Journal, 2022, 112 (7), pp.465-471
ISSN
0256-9574
Publisher
South African Medical Association
Start Page
465
End Page
471
Journal / Book Title
SAMJ South African Medical Journal
Volume
112
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© 2022, South African Medical Association NPC This open-access article is distributed underCreative Commons licence CC-BY-NC 4.0.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000888697700008&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=a2bf6146997ec60c407a63945d4e92bb
Subjects
BURDEN
General & Internal Medicine
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Medicine, General & Internal
MORTALITY
Science & Technology
SOUTH-AFRICA
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
South Africa
Date Publish Online
2022-07-01