ABSTRACT
Background: Children are vulnerable to injuries, and childhood injury is a complex phenomenon precipitated by a set of factors. In India, the magnitude and nature of childhood injury are not clearly known owing to the absence of a proper injury surveillance system. However, in recent days few studies demonstrated a substantially high burden of childhood injury. Objectives: To find out the prevalence, pattern, and the factors associated with injury among children of 0� years in the Siliguri city of West Bengal. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 780 children aged 0� years residing in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation area selected through cluster sampling technique (30 clusters [wards] with a cluster size of 26). Relevant data were collected by interviewing the mothers of children as respondents and was analyzed using SPSS software, binary logistic regression was applied to test the association between injury and other risk factors. Results: Of total 780 children, 165 had reported a total of 220 injury events with an overall period prevalence of 21.2% and a mean of 0.28 injury events per child. Majority of injuries were superficial in nature (53.2%); due to fall (56.4%), extremities were mostly involved (62.3%), and 12.8% cases were moderate-to-severe grade. Under-five children were most vulnerable. Injury was significantly related to socioeconomic status, presence of siblings, outdoor activities, and the presence of supervising person during travelling. Conclusions: Childhood injury is still highly prevalent in the area with its unique pattern and few preventable risk factors requiring a multifaceted comprehensive approach.
ABSTRACT
Background: Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a public health issue and cost a lot to individuals, families, communities, and nations. The estimated cost is around 1–2% of a country’s Gross National Product in lower income countries. Rural India has inefficient services for trauma care, due to the varied topography, financial constraints, and lack of appropriate health infrastructure and reach to them in their golden period. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to study the pattern of injury and to assess the effectiveness of ambulance services. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based, cross-sectional study of victims of RTA cases as study subjects who were admitted in the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital after they are stabilized and shifted to orthopedics and surgery ward. It included comatose patients and excluding patients of the outpatient department. Results: Majority of RTA victims used government ambulance 354 (54.1%) followed by owned vehicle 214 (32.7%) and least of them used private ambulance 86 (13.2%) to reach the hospital. Only 276 (42.2%) of victims received ambulance services at the time of accident occurrence in their golden period. In our study, mechanism of injury majorly was collision type 451 (69%) followed by acceleration 110 (16.9%) and deceleration 93 (14.3%) among the road accident victims. Among various body head region was most common 254 (39%) followed by lower limb 230 (35.2%). Conclusion: The mortality among road accident cases increased with the increase in duration to reach the hospital. The system which was involved in RTA cases was majorly skeletal system followed by the central nervous system.