Economic cost of childhood unintentional injuries

This study aims to review the economic cost of childhood [0-18 years] unintentional injuries [UI] and focuses upon comparing the cost burden between developing and developed countries. Articles were selected from PUBMED using the search words "Economic Cost", "Unintentional injuries" and "Children". Nine articles were selected. Studies in China focused upon cost to hospitals, in Bangladesh they focused on personal payment in rural areas, and in Vietnam they focused upon community-based cost analysis. There was one study from Norway on UI at home. There were 5 articles from the USA focusing on submersion injury, UI insurance, unintentional traumatic brain injury, UI due to firearms and UI medical costs. The cost of childhood UI is enormous, ranging from US $516,938 to US $9,550,704 per year. This represents a large economic burden on society. Additionally, there is a large gap between lower-middle income countries [LMIC] and high income countries [HIC] in the burden of injury, injury health care and insurance systems. Different bases and contexts of studies make it difficult to draw a solid conclusion about the amount of costs of UI among children. Therefore, more studies of children's unintentional injuries should be carried out in low and middle income countries

La enfermedad trauma / Trauma disease

Reports of the World Health Organization make known that the non-intentional lesions and the violence (intentional injuries) are a threatening possibility for the world's health and they represnt a 9 per cent of the whole mortality. Around 5,804,000 subjects die yearly due to lesions (16,000 subjects each day). Eight of the 15 causes of death, of the persons between 15 through 25 years old are related to violence or non-intentional injuries, whether they are produced by vehicular collisions, suicides, homicides, suffocation, burns, wars, poisoning or fallz. In Argentina, each year 8,000 subjects die due to vehicular collisions. According with the National Ministry of health, this number represents the 25 per cent of the deaths due to trauma. We think that it is interesing to present two aspects that require a conceptualization with a scientific support: The recognition of trauma as a disease (the disease trauma), and the necessity to not use the term accident to design the lesional mechanism described for non-intentional truama. The participation of institutions in the control of the disease trauma is considered by the authors.

The Impact of Bodaboda Motor Crashes on the Budget for Clinical Services at Mulago Hospital; Kampala

Background: Bodabodas are a common form of transport and are becoming a major cause of road traffic accidents in Uganda. We evaluated the magnitude of injuries related to bodabodas and their impact on clinical services at Mulago hospital. Methods: This was a retrospective review of all trauma patients who presented at Mulago hospital emergency ward between June and August 2008 following bodaboda crash. The hospital costs involved in their management were obtained from the office of the hospital statistician. Results: Road Traffic Crashes (RTCs) were the leading cause of trauma and bodabodas were involved in 41of all trauma patients.The average duration of stay was 8.3 days.The average cost to maintain a bodaboda patient was determined at Uganda shillings 700;359/ or the equivalent of US $369. Bodaboda injuries consumed 62.5of the budget allocation for the directorate of surgery; Mulago Hospital. Conclusions: Bodabodas are a major cause of traumatic injuries among cases seen in the surgical emergency department at Mulago and the costs incurred by the hospital in managing these injuries are enormous. Efforts should be made to reduce the menace that is brought about by bodaboda motorcycle crashes. Resources currently being spent on treating injuries resulting from accidents involving bodabodas would then be used to improve the care of other patients

Morbidade hospitalar por causas externas no Sistema Unico de Saúde em São José dos Campos, SP / Hospital morbidity due to external causes via Sistema Único de Saúde in São José dos Campos, SP

Objetivos: Realizou-se uma pesquisa com o objetivo de conhecer a qualidade dos dados de internação, os gastos diretos e a morbidade hospitalar por causas externas em São José dos Campos, São Paulo. Material e Métodos. Foram estudadas as internações pelo Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) por lesões decorrentes de causas externas no primeiro semestre de 2003, no Hospital Municipal Dr. José de Carvalho Florence. Este hospital é referência para o atendimento ao trauma no município. Foram analisados os prontuários de 990 internações. A concordância das variáveis relativas à vítima, à internação e ao agravo foi avaliada pela taxa bruta de concordância e pelo coeficiente Kappa. As lesões e as causas externas foram codificadas segundo a 10ª revisão da Classificação Internacional de Doenças. Resultados. A taxa de concordância bruta entre os dados do Sistema de Informações Hospitalares do SUS e a avaliação do pesquisador foi de boa qualidade para as variáveis relativas à vítima e à internação, variando de 89,0 por cento a 99,2 por cento. As lesões tiveram concordância ótima, exceto os traumatismos do pescoço (K=0,73), traumatismos múltiplos (K=0,67) e fraturas do tórax (K=0,49). As causas externas tiveram concordância ótima para acidentes de transportes e quedas. A confiabilidade foi menor para agressões (K=0,50), causas indeterminadas (k=0,37), e complicações da assistência médica (K=0,03). Houve concordância ótima nos acidentes de transporte em pedestres, ciclistas e motociclistas. Após ajuste do coeficiente Kappa para vieses e prevalência, os resultados mais baixos do coeficiente mudaram para melhor, exceto as causas indeterminadas. O maior gasto médio de internação foi por acidente de transporte (R$ 614,53) em seguida das agressões (R$ 594,90). As lesões com maior gasto médio foram às fraturas de pescoço (R$ 1.191,42) e traumatismo intracraniano (R$ 1.000,44). As internações com maior custo-dia foram às fraturas do crânio e de ossos da face (R$ 166,72) e...

Las pérdidas económicas por enfermedades y accidentes como instrumentos de pesquisajes sobre el problema de salud / Economic loss due to illness and accidents as screening tools for health problems

En trabajos anteriores, se han divulgado diferentes indicadores utilizados para evaluar el daño económico que la morbilidad ocasiona, así como un procedimiento para estimar éste y algunos resultados de su aplicación. En esta ocasión abordamos las pérdidas económicas, no como herramienta para medir el efecto económico de la morbilidad, sino como instrumento de pesquisaje sobre problemas de salud

Causas y costes de hospitalizaciones de niños por accidentes / Causes of hospital admission by accidental injuries in children

En 673 egresos de niños internados por accidentes y violencias en el Hospital "Félix Bulnes Cerda", durante un año, se hizo un análisis descriptivo de los diagnósticos de egreso, sexo, edad, servicios clínicos donde se realizó la atención, días de estada y costes estimados. La tasa de hospitalización (por 100 consultas por sexo) fue ligeramente mayor en varones (3,5%) que en niños (3%). Por cada niña admitida al hospital (n:236) ingresaron dos varones (n:437). Los egresos por accidentes representaron 3,4% de los producidos en el establecimiento, correspondiendo 87,2% de aquéllos a fracturas, quemaduras o traumatismos. Las tasas de hospitalización fueron: 13,8% para cada uno de los primeros y 6% para los traumatismos, por cada 100 niños atendidos en el servicio de urgencia por dichas causas. Los tipos de lesiones mostraron diferencias significativas por sexo, siendo las quemaduras y traumatismos más frecuentes en niñas que en varones y, en éstos, las fracturas y heridas más que en las mujeres. Las quemaduras fueron causa de hospitalización con más frecuencia entre 1 y 4 años y las fracturas entre 5 y 14 años. La estada hospitalaria media fue de 4 días con márgenes de 1 a 15 días. En total estos 673 egresos ocuparon 5.000 días cama, lo que significó un costo superior a $35 millones de pesos en moneda chilena del año 1987