Incidence of Traumatic Injuries After Drowning in Children

Research Article| September 01 2024 Incidence of Traumatic Injuries After Drowning in Children AAP Grand Rounds (2024) 52 (3): 35. https://doi.org/10.1542/gr.52-3-35 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Incidence of Traumatic Injuries After Drowning in Children. AAP Grand Rounds September 2024; 52 (3): 35. https://doi.org/10.1542/gr.52-3-35 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All PublicationsAll JournalsAAP Grand RoundsPediatricsHospital PediatricsPediatrics In ReviewNeoReviewsAAP NewsAll AAP Sites Search Advanced Search Topics: drowning, wounds and injuries Source: Kemal S , Ramgopal S , Macy ML , et al . Traumatic injuries and radiographic study utilization among children with drowning presenting to U.S. pediatric hospitals. Acad Pediatr. 2024;24(4):677-685; doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2023.09.009.Google Scholar Investigators from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital, Chicago, IL, conducted a retrospective study to determine the incidence of traumatic injury among children treated for drowning at US children's hospitals and assess the use and yield of imaging studies for identifying traumatic injuries in these patients. For the study, they reviewed data in the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database, which includes demographic information, procedural and diagnostic codes, and level of care data on encounters in >50 children's hospitals in the US. ICD-10 codes were used to identify patients <18 years old, treated at 45 hospitals for drowning between 2015 and 2020. Information collected on study participants included age, mechanism of drowning, such as fall, jump, or dive into water (based on ICD-10 codes), imaging studies performed, and level of care (emergency department [ED], hospital admission, ICU admission), and disposition. ICD-10 codes also were used to identify specific, clinically important, traumatic injuries, including major brain injury, skull, facial, or long bone fractures, spinal cord, thoracic and intra-abdominal injury, and major vessel injury. The primary study outcome was rate of any traumatic injury, and specific injury, in children with drowning. Secondary outcomes included rates of imaging studies and diagnostic yield of these studies. Data were analyzed on 10,397 hospital encounters for drownings in children. Overall, 70.2% of study patients were <5 years old, 83.4% were treated in the ED, and of those treated in the ED, 52.8% were admitted; 18.8% of all participants were admitted to the ICU, and 560 (5.4%) children died. Clinically important traumatic injuries were identified in 238 (2.3%) study participants. The most common types of injury were intracranial injury, occurring in 101 children (1.0%), hemothorax and/or pneumothorax (52 patients, 0.5%) and upper extremity long bone fracture (38 patients, 0.4%). Drowning associated with a fall, jump, or dive into water was reported in 17.8% of patients with intracranial injury, 50% with cervical spinal cord injury, and 66.7% with lower spinal cord jury. Imaging studies were performed in 6,933 children (66.7%), including chest radiographs in 6,492 patients (62.4%), brain CT in 1,185 (11.4%), and cervical spine CT in 389 (3.7%). Among those in whom a chest radiograph was performed, 0.7% had a thoracic injury. Among patients with a brain CT, 4.3% had a traumatic brain injury, and a cervical spine injury or vertebral fracture was identified in 0.5% of children who had a cervical spine CT performed. The authors conclude that the rate of clinically important traumatic injuries in children with drowning was rare, and the yield of imaging studies to identify these injuries was low. Dr Bechtel has disclosed no financial relationship relevant to this commentary. This commentary does not contain a discussion of an unapproved/investigative use of a commercial... You do not currently have access to this content.