Traumatic Head Injuries in Children: Experience from Asir, KSA

Traumatic head injuries are a major cause of permanent brain damage and may cause death and long term disabilities. It is expected to surpass the mortality rate caused by many diseases and it is predicted to be a major cause of death and disabilities by 2020. A retrospective analysis of medical records of paediatric patients aged 16 years and younger admitted to Asir Central hospital-Abha (main referral unit for southwestern Saudi Arabia) with traumatic head injuries (for the period from 15/11/2012 to 2/1/2014) was undertaken. This study was done to analyze the epidemiology of paediatric head injury in relation to age distribution, sex, mode of injury, and types of injuries. A total of seventy one cases with traumatic head injuries were admitted. 54 (76.1%) were males and 17 (23.9%) were females. Motor vehicle head injuries constituted 63.4 % of all cases, fall from heights constituted 32.4%, while direct head trauma and gunshot constituted 2.8 % and 1.4 % respectively. Fifty five percent of all cases were in the age group of +7years to 16years. The study confirmed a male preponderance (76.1 % of total).The most common lesion found on CT scan was skull fracture with underlying brain injury and or haemorrhage in 42.3 % of the cases. Preventive measures are necessary to reduce the impact of this alarming problem, which is becoming the future epidemic claiming many lives and causing devastating long term disabilities. It is of prime importance to address the two important causes of traumatic head injuries, namely motor vehicles accidents and falls