Pattern of Paediatric Injuries in Jos, Nigeria

This article studies the patterns presented in childhood injuries in Jos, Nigeria. The research examines hospital records of all children aged 16 years and younger under trauma care in the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) and in the Admitting Department of Jos University Teaching Hospital between January 1993 and December 1997. During the study period, a total of 1,332 children are seen in the A&E with trauma injuries (835 males, 454 females). The majority of patients in the A&E are preschool aged children (0–4 years), comprising 34.3% of the study. The other substantive age group is comprised of children aged 5–8 years (31.5%). The research shows that road traffic injuries (RTI) are among the most common trauma injuries seen, with 517 (41%) cases presented. Within these RTI cases, 450 (87%) are pedestrian-related. The authors note that the highest rate of paediatric pedestrian injury occurs in children aged 5 to 12 years. The authors cite such possible risk factors for this age group as the fact that many Nigerian school children sell goods along roadsides, walk to school alone, and use poor roadway crossing techniques.