A retrospective review of paediatric head injuries in Asia - a Pan Asian Trauma Outcomes Study (PATOS) collaboration

Abstract

Objective We aim to examine the mechanisms of head-injured children presenting to participating centres in the Pan Asian Trauma Outcomes Study (PATOS) and to evaluate the association between mechanism of injury and severe outcomes. Design and setting We performed a retrospective review of medical records among emergency departments (EDs) of eight PATOS centres, from September 2014 - August 2015. Participants We included children <16 years old who presented within 24 hours of head injury and were admitted for observation or required a computed tomography (CT) of the brain from the ED. We excluded children with known coagulopathies, neurological co-morbidities or prior neurosurgery. We reviewed the mechanism, intent, location and object involved in each injury, and the patients' physical findings on presentation. Outcomes Primary outcomes were death, endotracheal intubation or neurosurgical intervention. Secondary outcomes included hospital and ED length of stay. Results 1438 children were analysed. 953 children (66.3%) were male and the median age was 5.0 years (IQR 1.0-10.0). Falls predominated especially among children younger than 2 years (82.9%), while road traffic injuries were more likely to occur among children 2 years and above compared with younger children (25.8% vs 11.1%). Centres from upper and lower middle-income countries were more likely to receive head injured children from road traffic collisions compared with those from high-income countries (51.4% and 40.9%, vs 10.9%, p<0.0001) and attended to a greater proportion of children with severe outcomes (58.2% and 28.4%, vs 3.6%, p<0.0001). After adjusting for age, gender, intent of injury and gross national income, traffic injuries (adjusted OR 2.183, 95% CI 1.448 to 3.293) were associated with severe outcomes, as compared with falls. Conclusions Among children with head injuries, traffic injuries are independently associated with death, endotracheal intubation and neurosurgery. This collaboration among Asian centres holds potential for future prospective childhood injury surveillance.