Serious sledding injuries in children dramatically increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background Sledding is the most popular activity in young children given its cost and simplicity. Objective This study aims to highlight the increase in serious sledding injuries among children in France during the COVID-19 pandemic and to examine the patterns of injury. Methods A single-center retrospective study. Patients younger than 16 years of age were included if they were admitted in PICU because of a sledding, skiing or snowboarding accident. Results Compared with previous winter seasons, sledding-related injuries increased four to five-fold during the winter of 2020–2021, with a total of 12 children admitted to the PICU. Most were less than 5 years of age. At the time of the accident, most children (9/12, 75%) were not wearing a helmet. All children presenting with a head trauma were younger than 5 years old. Finally, no patient died and the median length of stay in ICU was 3 days (IQR 1–7). Conclusion: Serious pediatric injuries related to sledding have increased sharply with the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an urgent need to develop prevention strategies, including the widespread use of helmets.

STUDY OF PEDIATRIC INJURIES: PATTERNS AND OUTCOME

Purpose this study aims to show the patterns and outcome of pediatric injury among those living in Albaha region in Saudi Arabia Methods this is a cross-sectional descriptive household-based study, included children between 0-17 years old both male and female. The data were collected with structured questionnaire between 20 Nov – 20 Dec 2018 and analyzed with SPSS version 25 Results the total of participants was 257 injured child. 199(77.4%) are male and 58(22.6%) are female. About 44%of them were injured at pre-school level and 56% were traumatized at school age. The least incidence of injury occurred in those less than 2 yrs and higher incidence in those between 3-10 yrs old. The most common mechanism of injury was falling from height. The most affected group age by RTA accidents was 11-17 yrs old. Approximately 83% of the injured children required hospital management. Only one third of the injuries were associated complications. The most common injured anatomic part was the upper limb and the least affected part was the spine. Only 5% of the injuries were associated with a disability and the common was loss of organ or part of it. Paralysis occurred in less than 1% and head injury resulted in disabilities more than 1%. Conclusion the vast majority of the injuries in our participants are not serious. The severe injuries were associated with RTA-related trauma. Most of injuries due to falling from height are not serious. We recommend not to allow the children to drive cars. Keywords: pediatric injuries; injury patterns; household.