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(Reuters Health) – A new study suggests that the majority of the more than four million traumatic brain injuries among children treated in US emergency rooms involved consumer products.
Brain injuries in young children were linked to products such as beds and floor coverings, while injuries in older children were related to sports such as football, basketball and cycling, reported researchers in Brain Injury.
"The age of a child is important when it comes to examining the incidence and causes of these injuries," said lead author from the study, Bina Ali, a researcher at the Pacific Institute of Research and Assessment in Beltsville, Maryland. "In this study, we found that furniture and home furnishings, mainly beds, were highest in infants and children under age 4. In children aged 5 to 19, traumatic brain injury sports and recreation were the highest and the results indicate the priority areas for trauma: prevention of brain damage. "
Using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System – All Injury Program, researchers identified 4,091,376 non-fatal pediatric TBIs seen in emergency rooms between 2010 and 2013. Layered by age, there were 380 842 TBI in infants less than one year of age, 1,085,680 in children aged 1 to 4 years. 682,826 children aged 5 to 9, 834,565 children aged 10 to 14, and 1,107,463 children aged 15 to 19.
Most young people with TBI (92%) were treated urgently and released.
Overall, 28.8% of BITs related to sports and recreation, 17.2% to furniture and 17.1% to house structures and building materials. Toys were related to 2.4% of brain injuries, while personal use, home electronics and entertainment, and other product groups accounted for 6.6% of BITs.
Most injuries in infants (71.3%) and children aged 1-4 years (60.6%) were related to furnishings and appliances, house structures and building materials. construction.
To protect these young children, Ali recommends "to eliminate the risk of tripping, such as area rugs, to improve lighting, to avoid hard playgrounds and to use domestic safety devices, such as barriers and handrails for stairs ".
When children reached the age of 5 to 9, sports and recreation accounted for 31.8% of brain injuries. This percentage rises to 53.9% among children aged 10 to 14 and drops to 38.3% among young people aged 15 to 19.
American football, followed by basketball, was the main source of brain trauma among 10-19 year olds.
Dr. Chris Giza, a professor of pediatrics and neurosurgery at the University of California at Los Angeles, and Mattel Hospital at the University of Los Angeles (UCLA), has a number of strategies to ensure of the brain of children who play sports.
"Use protective devices," Giza said. "Make sure the helmets fit properly and effectively worn Head injuries avoided by the helmet are often skull fractures and other serious injuries.These are the ones that have the most debilitating consequences in the long run. term."
Giza also suggested that parents of organized sports children get to know the coach and other staff members. "You would not want to enroll your child in piano lessons without controlling the teacher," he said. "Many parents do not know either the coach or the sports coach, or whether there is medical supervision."
"You also want to know if the authorities are applying the rules," said Gizeh. "Does the coach have injury prevention training, what is the team's mentality, is it a winner at all costs, or does he insist on doing so? To have fun and to make sure there is good sportsmanship? "
Overall, Gizeh is happy to see "precise numbers" on TBI in children, although he suspects that the numbers would be even higher if researchers had included doctor visits.
Parents may be surprised to find that toys, playgrounds and bars for monkeys represent such a small percentage of injuries. But it may be because "kids do not have as much unstructured time these days," Giza said. "You rarely see children playing in the park or climbing trees."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/314UVKN Brain injury, posted on July 29, 2019.
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