Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
This study was prompted by the dearth of injury data among children in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected prospectively on all children 0-15 years who presented to the King Fahad Hospital at Al Baha with oro-facial injuries over a period of five consecutive years. These records were analyzed for age, gender, seasonal distribution, cause, location and types of injuries. The mean age of the injured children was 6.2 +/- 3.7 years. Falls, motor vehicle accidents followed by direct blunt trauma were responsible for over 97 percent of all oro-facial injuries in children, and over 60 percent of all injuries were due to falls. The forehead, eye, periorbital areas and the mouth accounted for about two-thirds of all injury sites. Most injuries 356 (75.3%) occurred during the summer months while only 117 (24.7%) occurred during the winter months. The difference was significant (P<0.0001). The large majority of injuries, which occurred in children under the age of 6 years, took place at home, while road traffic accidents were the commonest cause of injury in the older children 6 years and above. Following logistic regression analysis, age (6 years and under) was associated with increased risk of injury while the winter months were associated with a lower risk. In addition, the study found no statistically significant difference in the prevalence by sex. Having a safe home environment, health education programmes directed towards the caretakers of young children and legislation in support of seat belts will go a long way towards reducing injuries among children in this community. A multi-disciplinary clinical management approach is envisaged due to the different injury sites and facilities would need to be equipped to take care of all types of oro-facial injuries.