Abstract
A consecutive unselected series of 1812 children (up to 15 years old) admitted for head injuries over a period of 8.5 years was studied. The cases were divided up according to five categories of pathology: benign injury, extradural haematoma, subdural haematoma, open brain laceration and brain contusion in a broad sense. All cases of benign injury were from the Geneva area (57 000 children) and 52% of the cases of severe injury were referred from other places. To these 1812 cases were added those of 23 children who died before admission recorded by the police. In the Geneva area the mortality was 6.8/100 000 per year. Patients were divided into three age groups: I (0–3 years), II (3–9 years), and III (9–15 years); group I was further subdivided into subgroups I a (0–1 year) and I b (1–3 years). The incidence of each type of accident was calculated for each age group, separately for girls and boys. Each type of pathology was correlated, sex by sex and for different ages, with the type of accident. Overall, two boys were injured for each girl. Road accidents were responsible for 15% of head injuries in group I girls, 17% in group I boys, 43% in group II girls, 45% in group II boys, 50% in group III boys and 61% in group III girls. They were responsible for 94% of all deaths and 85% of deaths of hospitalized patients. Falling was the most frequent cause of injury. Benign injuries were more frequent in group I. Only 1 of 25 patients with extradural haematomas died, and there were only 8 patients with subdural haematomas, 4 in subgroup I a (babies aged less than 1 year).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aldrich EF, Eisenberg HM, Saydjari C, Luerssen TG, Foulkes MA, Jane JA, Marshall LG, Marmarou A, Young HF (1992) Diffuse brain swelling in severely head-injured children. A report from the NIH Traumatic Coma Data Bank. J Neurosurg 76:450–456
Annegers F (1983) The epidemiology of head trauma in children. In: Shapiro I (ed) Pediatric head trauma. Futura, Mount Kisco, NY, pp 1–10
Berger MS, Pitts LH, Lovely M, Edwards MS, Bartkowski HM (1985) Outcome from severe head injury in children and adolescents. J Neurosurg 62:194–199
Berney J, Froidevaux A-C, Favier J (1994) Paediatric head trauma: influence of age and sex. II. Biomechanical and anatomo-clinical correlations. Child's Nerv Syst 10:517–523
Besse MD (1980) Traumatismes crâniens de l'enfant. Expérience d'un service de chirurgie infantile. A propos de 1019 cas. Anesth Analg (Paris) 37:181–185
Billmire ME, Myers PA (1985) Serious head injury in infants: accident or abuse? Pediatrics 75:340–342
Bruce DA, Schut L, Bruno LA, et al (1978) Outcome following severe head injuries in children. J Neurosurg 48: 679–688
Choux M, Grisoli F, Peragut JC (1975) Extradural hematomas in children — 104 cases. Child's Brain 1:337–347
Ferrier PE, Schaller M, Girardet I (1985) Abused children admitted to a pediatric inpatient service in Switzerland: a ten-year experience and follow-up evaluation. Child Abuse Negl 9:373–381
Fife D (1987) Head injury with and without hospital admission: comparisons of incidence and short-term disability. Am J Public Health 7:810–812
Hahn YS, Chyung C, Barthel MJ, Bailes J, Flannery AM, McLone DG (1988) Head injuries in children under 36 months of age. Demography and outcome. Child's Nerv Syst 4:34–40
Hendrick EB, Harwood-Nash MB, Hudson AR (1964) Head injuries in children. A survey of 4465 consecutive cases at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. Clin Neurosurg 11:46–65
Humphreys RP, Jaimovich R, Hendrick EB, Hoffmann HJ (1983) Severe head injuries in children. Concepts Pediatr Neurosurg 4:230–242
Jennett B, Teasdale G (1981) Management of head injuries. (Contemporary neurology, vol 20) Davis, Philadelphia
Kraus JF, Fife D, Cox P, Ramstein K, Conroy C (1986) Incidence severity and external causes of pediatric brain injury. Am J Dis Child 140:687–693
Lazorthes Y, Huong X, Lazorthes G (1969) Aggravations secondaires précoces survenant après les traumatismes cranio-cérébraux chez l'enfant. A propos de 1193 cas. Neurochirurgie 15:19–26
Levin HS, Aldrich EF, Saydjari C, Eisenberg HM, Foulkes MA, Bellefluer M, Luerssen TG, Jane JA, Marmarou A, Marhall LF, Young HF (1992) Severe head injury in children: experience of the Traumatic Coma Data Bank. Neurosurgery 31:435–444
Luerssen T, Klauber M, Marshall L (1988) Outcome from head injury related to patient's age. A longitudinal prospective study of adult and pediatric head injury. J Neurosurg 68: 409–416
Lundar T, Nestvolk K (1985) Pediatric head injuries caused by traffic accidents. A prospective study with. 5-year follow-up. Child's Nerv Syst 1:24–28
Michaud LJ, Rivara FP, Grady MS, Reay DT (1992) Predictors of survival and severity of disability after severe brain injury in children. Neurosurgery 31:254–264
Pfenninger J, Kaiser G, Lutschg J, et al (1983) Treatment and outcome of the severely head injured child. Intensive Care Med 9:13–16
Raimondi A, Hirschauer J (1984) Head injury in the infant and toddler. Child's Brain 11:12–35
Sharples PM, Storey A, Aynsley-Green A, Eyre JA (1990) Avoidable factors contributing to death of children with head injury. BMJ 300:87–91
Walker ML, Storrs BB, Mayer T (1983) Factors affecting outcome in the pediatric patient with multiple trauma. Concepts Pediatr Neurosurg 4:243–252
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Berney, J., Favier, J. & Froidevaux, A.C. Paediatric head trauma: influence of age and sex. Child's Nerv Syst 10, 509–516 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00335073
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00335073