Clinical Analysis of Pediatric Death Patients Visiting Emergency Center / 소아과

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We analyzed pediatric death patients who visited Dong-Kang Hospital emergency center, in order to minimize unexpected pediatric deaths. METHODS: The authors analyzed retrospectively the medical records of 110 pediatric patients who died before and within 24 hours after admission to the emergency center of Ulsan Dong-Kang General Hospital from January 1997 to December 2002. RESULTS: We classified three categories by the cause of death, accident group(AG) 46 cases(41.8%), disease group(DG) 37 cases(33.6%), unknown cause group(UG) 27 cases(24.6%) respectively. The most common age was between two and five years of age(50.0%) in AG, under one month (40.5%) in DG, between one month and one year(51.9%) in UG respectively. The most common season was summer(37.0%) in AG, winter(51.4%) in DG, spring(37.1%) in UG respectively. The most common time on arrival was from 1300 to 1800(37.0%) in AG, from 700 to noon(43.2%) in DG, from midnight to 600(29.6%) and from 700 to noon(29.6%) in UG respectively. The most common type of accident was traffic accident(47.8%). The most common cause of death in DG was respiratory disorder(40.5%). Sudden infant death syndrome was the most common(37.1%) in unknown cause of death. CONCLUSION: Accidental injuries and severe chronic illnesses are the major cause of unexpected pediatric death. Legislation related to accidents and a parents teaching program for emergency situations are necessary to decrease cases of unexpected pediatric death.