Epidemiology, Patterns of treatment, and Mortality of Pediatric Trauma Patients in Japan

Limited information exists regarding the epidemiology, patterns of treatment, and mortality of pediatric trauma patients in Japan. To evaluate the characteristics and mortality of pediatric trauma patients in Japan, especially in traffic accidents. This was a retrospective cohort study between 2004 and 2015 from a nationwide trauma registry in Japan. Pediatric trauma patients divided into four age groups: <1 years; 1 ≤ 5 years; 6 ≤ 10 years; and 11 ≤ 15 years. Data on patients’ demographics, trauma mechanism and severity, treatments and in-hospital mortality were analyzed between the groups. There were 15,441 pediatric trauma patients during the study period. Among 15,441 pediatric patients, 779 belonged to the <1 year age group, 3,933 to the 1 ≤ 5 years age group, 5,545 to the 6 ≤ 10 age group, and 5,184 to the 11 ≤ 15 years age group. Male injuries (69%) were more frequent than female injuries. Head injuries (44%) were the most frequent and severe. Traffic accidents were the leading cause of trauma (44%). Overall in-hospital mortality was 3.9% and emergency department mortality was 1.4%. In-hospital mortality was 5.3%, 4.7%, 3.0% and 4.0% for the <1 year, 1 ≤ 5 years, 6 ≤ 10 years, and 11 ≤ 15 years age groups respectively. A total of 57% of all trauma deaths were before or upon arrival at hospital. Traffic accidents for the <1 year age group was the highest category of mortality (15%). The overall in-hospital mortality of Japanese pediatric trauma patients was 3.9% based on the nationwide trauma registry of Japan. The main cause of severe trauma was traffic accidents, especially in patients <1 year of age whose mortality was 15%.