Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Trends in childhood trauma mortality in the fast economically developing State of Qatar

  • Original Article
  • Published:
World Journal of Pediatrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

The aim of this study was to explore the trends in injury mortality in children aged 0–18 years in the State of Qatar. No such study has been conducted previously in Qatar.

Methods

Univariate statistical analysis was used in this retrospective descriptive study. A total of 2934 children aged 0–18 years who died due to injuries in the period of 1 January 1993 to 31 December 2007 were studied.

Results

The leading causes of death were road traffi c injuries (RTIs) (71.3%), drowning (9.3%) and accidental falls (6.0%). Injury death rates were higher in citizens (57.7%) than in non-citizens (42.3%). The children of 15-18 years old had the highest frequency of injury deaths (34.4%), followed by children of 10-14 years old (21.3%). The mortality rate of RTI per 100 000 population increased remarkably in the year 2005 compared to previous years.

Conclusions

The present study suggests that RTI is a major cause of childhood death. Injury mortality is higher in boys than in girls. During the period of 1993–2007, there was a dramatic increase in childhood mortality caused by RTI. This study highlights the burden of RTI caused mortalities in children, which requires immediate action.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. World Health Organization, 2001. Global burden of disease, version #1, 2002. www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Oddsinjuries Death.htm (accessed March 14, 2007).

  2. Krug EG, Sharma GK, Lozano R. The global burden of injuries. Am J Public Health 2000;90:523–526.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Peden M, McGee K, Krug E, eds. Injury: a leading cause of the global burden of diseases. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bener A, Hyder AA, Schenk E. Trends in childhood injury mortality in a developing country: United Arab Emirates. Accid Emerg Nurs 2007;15:228–233.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Bener A, Justham D, Azhar AA, Rysavy M, AI-Mulla F. Femoral fractures in children related to motor vehicle injuries. J Orthop Nurs 2007;11:146–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Ekman R, Svanstrom L, Langberg B. Temporal trends, gender, and geographic distributions in child and youth injury rates in Sweden. Inj Prev 2005;11:29–32.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. McKee M, Oreskovic S. Childhood injury: call for action. Croat Med J 2002;43:375–378.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Roaten JB, Partrick DA, Nydam TL, Bensard DD, Hendrickson RJ, Sirotnak AP, et a1. Nonaccidental trauma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among patients at a regional level 1 pediatric trauma center. J Pediatr Surg 2006;41:2013–2015.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. UNICEF. A league table of child deaths by injury in rich nations. Innocent Report Card No.2, February 2001. Florence: UNICEF Innocent Research Centre, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Pan SY, Ugnat AM, Semenciw R, Desmeules M, Mao Y, Macleod M. Trends in childhood injury mortality in Canada, 1979-2002. Inj Prev 2006;12:155–160.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Child Injury Division, Public Health Agency of Canada Leading causes of death and hospitalization in Canada. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/lcd-pcd97/index.html (accessed December 28, 2006).

  12. Peden M, Oyegbite K, Ozanne-Smith J, Hyder AA, Branche C, Rahman AKMF, et al, eds. World Report on child injury prevention. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Murray C, Lopez A. The global burden of disease. Vo1. 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Britton JW. Kids can’t fly: preventing fall injuries in children. WMJ 2005;104:33–36.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Hall E, Saxe G, Stoddard F, Kaplow J, Koenen K, Chawla N, et a1. Posttraumatic stress symptoms in parents of children with acute burns. J Pediatr Psycho1 2006;31:403–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Bener A, El-Rufaie OE, Al-Suweidi NE. Pediatric injuries in an Arabian Gulf country. Inj Prev 1997;3:224–226.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Bener A, Al-Suwaidi NK, Pugh RNH, Hussein AS. Pediatric trauma and accidents in a desert country. Indian Pediatr 1997; 34:1111–1114.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Bener A, Al-Salman KM, Pugh RN. Injury mortality and morbidity among children in the United Arab Emirates. Eur J Epidemiol 1998;14:175–178.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Philippakis A, Hemenway D, Alexe DM, Dessypris N, Spyridopoulos T, Petridou E. A quantification of preventable unintentional childhood injury mortality in the United States. Inj Prev 2004;10:79–82.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Davis BM. Public health, preventive medicine and social services, 6th ed. London: Edward Arnold, 1995: 104–105.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Injury mortality among American Indian and Alaska Native children and youth—United States, 1989-1998. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2003;52:697–701.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Evbuomwan L. Pediatric trauma admissions in the Sakaka Central Hospital, Al Jouf Province SA. Saudi Med J 1994;15: 435–437.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Roudsari BS, Shadman M, Ghodsi M. Childhood trauma fatality and resource allocation in injury control programs in a developing country. BMC Public Health 2006;6:117.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Statistics & Epidemiology, Hamad General Hospital & Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar

    Abdulbari Bener

  2. Department of Evidence for Population Health Unit, School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Abdulbari Bener

  3. WHO, EMRO Regional Adviser, Healthy Lifestyle Promotion/Injury and Violence Prevention and Disability, Cairo, Egypt

    Syed J. Hussain & Hala Abou-Taleb

  4. Global Forum for Health Research, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland

    Abdul Ghaffar

  5. Department of Pediatrics, Suez Canal University, Suez, Egypt

    Hesham F. El-Sayed

  6. Department of Medical Statistics, Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, and Weill Cornell Medical College, PO Box 3050, Doha, State of Qatar

    Abdulbari Bener

Authors
  1. Abdulbari Bener
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Syed J. Hussain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Abdul Ghaffar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hala Abou-Taleb
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hesham F. El-Sayed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abdulbari Bener.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bener, A., Hussain, S.J., Ghaffar, A. et al. Trends in childhood trauma mortality in the fast economically developing State of Qatar. World J Pediatr 7, 41–44 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-010-0208-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-010-0208-x

Key words

Search

Navigation