[Scooter injuries or a chronicle of a new epidemic. Apropos of a prospective study of Geneva cases]. / Traumatismes à trottinette ou la chronique d'une épidémie annoncée. A propos d'une étude prospective de cas à Genève.

AIM: Confronted with an increasing number of an unpowered scooter-related injury and an absence of available data in the literature, we undertook a prospective and exploratory study, in order to assess the circumstances and trauma consequences of this kind of injury. METHOD: Between the 15th of August 2000 and the 15th of November 2000, each child consulting our emergency room for a scooter-related injury was questioned about the circumstances of the accident and his general scooter experience. Data about all injuries and there treatment were collected. RESULTS: 32 children (16 B/16 G) with a the mean age of 10.1 +/- 2.3 years have consulted. Eight children (25%) required hospitalization. In almost half of the cases, the injury was caused by direct or indirect material facts. No child was wearing protection at the time of the accident. Fracture was the most frequent injury (55%) and the upper limb was concerned by almost half of the lesions. Four fractures required osteosynthesis (12.5%) and six treatments a general anesthesia (19%). The severity of injury and the treatment were more substantial when the unpowered scooters were used for transport rather than for playing. CONCLUSION: Our short study gives a first estimation of the potential danger of the unpowered scooter and its confrontation with the traffic, without prevention given by the law or the producer. However this product can lead to important injuries.

[Epidemiology of in-line skate injuries: state of the art]. / Epidémiologie des traumatismes à in-line skate: état des connaissances.

During the last decade, in-line skating has become an increasingly popular activity. Along with the number of reports, highlighting the number of injuries and their degree of severity, in-line skating injuries have to be considered a growing public health issue. The objective of this work is to report epidemiological knowledge about in-line skate injuries and ways of prevention. A thorough search of all reports and publications on the subject was performed through the Medline database and in references of selected publications. There are numerous case series studies and several observational ones, most of them undertaken in North America. In-line skates are used for recreation, sports, and transportation, in a variety of settings (parks, streets, bike path, etc.) and by most of age groups (5 to 71 years, median generally about 15). The most common site of injury is the wrist and forearm, although other parts of the body can be severely injured. Age, sex, physical training level, formal instruction level, lack of wearing of protective gear, skating location, may be risk factors for injury. Some preventive measures were proposed by a number of research workers (information campaigns, wearing of protective gear, instruction, laws, etc.). Several preventive attempts were undertaken but no one was appraised. In-line skates are used by all age groups and for a variety of activities. In-line skating is related to a great number of factors, such as cultural, social, geographic, urban and behavioural factors. Therefore, groups at risk for injury are very different. Emergence of an important type of injury should lead to the development of analytic epidemiological studies, based on particular groups of in-line skaters, in order to describe them, to identify and quantify risk factors and to design preventive measures, and then to appraise their efficiency.

[Value of the Pediatric Trauma Score in routine hospital practice--apropos of a prospective one-year trial]. / Utilité du Pediatric Trauma Score dans la pratique hospitalière quotidienne--à propos d'une série prospective d'un an.

AIM: To test the usefulness of the Pediatric Trauma Score (PTS) in a university hospital setting. METHODS: All injured children who were admitted to our emergency room during a one year period were prospectively studies. The study was performed at the Pediatric University Hospital of Geneva. Patients were divided into two groups: group one included severely injured children with a PTS equal or lower 8 and group two included patients with a PTS greater than 8. RESULTS: A total of 6804 injured children were admitted to our emergency room and 927 (14%) were hospitalized. In group one (104 children, 1.5%), six patients died whereas in group two (823 children, 12%), all patients survived. In addition, children in group one demonstrated a significant higher number of general anesthesia, a longer stay in the ICU and a longer stay, and an increased number of sequelae 3 months after trauma. DISCUSSION: Our result confirm the usefulness of the PTS and the cutoff value of 8 in pediatric trauma. In addition, the study underlines the important morbidity and the residual sequelae after severe trauma in children. CONCLUSION: The PTS should be used in all injured children in order to identify patients at risk. This would allow to begin an appropriate treatment or, if necessary, initiate a transfer to a surgical pediatric center without delay.