Fall major cause of injury among kids: Study

According to the study, 387 children were enrolled for the study over a period from April 2015 to August 2015 and patients were recruited from three healthcare facilities: the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), a tertiary care institution, the Government Multi Speciality Hospital (GMSH), a secondary care institution and government hospital, a secondary care institution. A Panchkula government hospital was also included in the study.

FALL IS the predominant cause of injury among children, with most of the falls occurring at home, revealed a study conducted by PGIMER and a few foreign universities. The study, Health-Related Quality of Life and Function after Paediatric Injuries in India: A Longitudinal Study, conducted by the School of Public Health, PGIMER, a few Australian universities and Swansea University of UK was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

According to the study, 387 children were enrolled for the study over a period from April 2015 to August 2015 and patients were recruited from three healthcare facilities: the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), a tertiary care institution, the Government Multi Speciality Hospital (GMSH), a secondary care institution and government hospital, a secondary care institution. A Panchkula government hospital was also included in the study.

The study further noted that participants were recruited during their inpatient stay at the three study hospitals. “Records were screened for all admitted patients with an injury and other eligibility criteria,” it said. “The major strengths of this study are good follow-up rates (87 per cent) and cohort representation from secondary health facilities as well as a tertiary health facility,” the study pointed out.

It further said that the findings report a high burden of hospitalisation associated with falls and road traffic injuries in children aged 2-16 years. “The findings confirm the need for development of context-specific tools, highlighting that the tools developed for high-income settings to measure health-related quality of life might not be directly transferrable to low- and middle-income country settings. There is an urgent need for tested, validated instruments measuring health outcomes in children that can be recommended for standardised data collection for trauma registries and for guiding early intervention and rehabilitation strategies,” said the report.

Follow-up at all-time points was completed for 277 (77 per cent) of all living participants, said the authors. “Less than one per cent reported ongoing disability at four months and no disability was reported at 12 months. Although injuries are prevalent, ongoing impact on functioning and disability from most childhood injuries at 12 months was reported to be low,” reads the report.