A retrospective review of paediatric head injuries in Asia - a Pan Asian Trauma Outcomes Study (PATOS) collaboration

OBJECTIVE: We aim to examine the mechanisms of head-injured children presenting to participating centres in the Pan Asian Trauma Outcomes Study (PATOS) and to evaluate the association between mechanism of injury and severe outcomes.

DESIGN AND SETTING: We performed a retrospective review of medical records among emergency departments (EDs) of eight PATOS centres, from September 2014 - August 2015.

PARTICIPANTS: We included children <16 years old who presented within 24 hours of head injury and were admitted for observation or required a computed tomography (CT) of the brain from the ED. We excluded children with known coagulopathies, neurological co-morbidities or prior neurosurgery. We reviewed the mechanism, intent, location and object involved in each injury, and the patients' physical findings on presentation.

OUTCOMES: Primary outcomes were death, endotracheal intubation or neurosurgical intervention. Secondary outcomes included hospital and ED length of stay.

RESULTS: 1438 children were analysed. 953 children (66.3%) were male and the median age was 5.0 years (IQR 1.0-10.0). Falls predominated especially among children younger than 2 years (82.9%), while road traffic injuries were more likely to occur among children 2 years and above compared with younger children (25.8% vs 11.1%). Centres from upper and lower middle-income countries were more likely to receive head injured children from road traffic collisions compared with those from high-income countries (51.4% and 40.9%, vs 10.9%, p<0.0001) and attended to a greater proportion of children with severe outcomes (58.2% and 28.4%, vs 3.6%, p<0.0001). After adjusting for age, gender, intent of injury and gross national income, traffic injuries (adjusted OR 2.183, 95% CI 1.448 to 3.293) were associated with severe outcomes, as compared with falls.

CONCLUSIONS: Among children with head injuries, traffic injuries are independently associated with death, endotracheal intubation and neurosurgery. This collaboration among Asian centres holds potential for future prospective childhood injury surveillance.