Analyses of demographical and injury characteristics of adult and pediatric patients injured in Syrian civil war

Abstract

Purpose: Aimed to analyze demographical data and injury characteristics of patients who were injured in the Syrian Civil War (SCW) and to define differences in injury characteristics between adult and pediatric patients.

Methodology: Patients who were injured in the SCW and transferred to our emergency department were retrospectively analyzed in this study during the 15-month period between July 2013 and October 2014.

Results: During the study period, 1591 patients who were the victims of the SCW and admitted to our emergency department due to war injury enrolled in the study. Of these patients, 285 were children (18%). The median of the injury severity score was 16 (interquartile range [IQR]: 9-25) in all patients. The most frequent mechanism of injury was blunt trauma (899 cases, 55%), and the most frequently-injured region of the body was the head (676 cases, 42.5%). Head injury rates among the children's group were higher than those of the adult group (P < .001). In contrast, injury rates for the abdomen and extremities in the children's group were lower than those in the adult group (P < .001, P < .001).

Conclusion: The majority of patients were adults, and the most frequent mechanism of injury was blunt trauma. Similarly, the children were substantially affected by war. Although the injury severity score values and mortality rates of the child and adult groups were similar, it was determined that the number of head injuries was higher, but the number of abdomen and extremity injuries was lower in the children's group than in the adult group.