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. 2025 May 1:13:1562237.
doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1562237. eCollection 2025.

Analysis of the clinical features of 980 accidental pediatric injuries in the PICU

Yufan Yang #  1   2 , Wang Chen #  1 , Hengyun He  1 , Xinping Zhang  1   2 , Jiaotian Huang  1   2 , Guanghui Zhu  3 , Xiulan Lu  1   2 , Zhenghui Xiao  1   2
Affiliations

Analysis of the clinical features of 980 accidental pediatric injuries in the PICU

Yufan Yang et al. Front Pediatr. .

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the causes and clinical characteristics of 980 cases of accidental pediatric injuries admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) to provide clinical evidence to support the prevention and reduction of severe accidental pediatric injuries.

Methods: A total of 980 patients with accidental pediatric injuries admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of Hunan Children's Hospital from 2017 to 2023 were included in this study.

Results: Between 2017 and 2023, 980 patients with accidental pediatric injuries were admitted to the PICU, comprising 588 boys and 392 girls (boy-to-girl ratio: 1.5:1). During the study period, a total of 16,151 children were admitted to the PICU, of whom 980 were admitted due to accidental injuries and 15,171 due to non-accidental injuries. There were no statistically significant differences in sex distribution between the accidental and non-accidental injury groups. Accidental pediatric injuries were most common among infants, toddlers, and preschool children, with the number of PICU admissions decreasing with increasing age. Across all years, infants and preschool children were the most affected. Traffic accidents and falls showed an increasing trend over time, whereas poisoning and drowning showed a decreasing trend. Differences in the composition of causes by year were statistically significant. The overall mortality rate among children with accidental injuries was 4.39%. The mortality rates by cause were as follows: traffic accidents (4.2%), falls (3.2%), foreign objects (7.1%), carbon monoxide poisoning (0.0%), food poisoning (9.7%), drug poisoning (1.0%), other types of poisoning (4.2%), burns and corrosive injuries (0.0%), drowning (13.0%), suffocation syndrome (23.1%), and other causes (4.3%). Prognostic differences between causes were statistically significant.

Conclusion: Accidental pediatric injuries predominantly occur in boys, with infants and preschool children being the most affected. These injuries are more common in summer, with drug poisoning, traffic accidents, and falls being the main causes. Among the common causes, traffic accidents and falls showed an increasing trend, whereas poisoning and drowning showed a decreasing trend. Suffocation syndrome, drowning, and food poisoning were associated with high mortality rates.

Keywords: PICU; accidental injuries; accidental injuries PICU; changing trend; children.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The changing trend of different causes of injury in children in PICU from 2017 to 2023.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The annual proportion of the causes of accidental injuries in 2017–2023. (A) The annual proportion of the causes of accidental injuries in 2017. (B) The annual proportion of the causes of accidental injuries in 2018. (C) The annual proportion of the causes of accidental injuries in 2019. (D) The annual proportion of the causes of accidental injuries in 2020. (E) The annual proportion of the causes of accidental injuries in 2021. (F) The annual proportion of the causes of accidental injuries in 2022. (G) The annual proportion of the causes of accidental injuries in 2023.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The portion of accidental injuries from 2017 to 2023.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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