Road traffic injuries among children in Dakar, Senegal

Introduction: Road traffic injuries (RTI) are a major public health problem and contribute significantly to the global burden. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of RTIs in children and to determine their socio-demographic and lesional characteristics. Patients and methods: This was a retrospective and descriptive study over a two-year period from January 2015 to December 2016 conducted at the Department of Pediatric Surgery at the Aristide Le Dantec Hospital in Dakar. Included were all children under the age of 16 victims of a RTI. We studied various parameters relating to the victims (sex, age, education) and the accident (location and time of occurrence of the accident, circumstances and mechanism, duration of admission to the emergency unit, localization and type of lesion). The data was entered and processed using Microsoft Office Word and Excel 2010 software. Results: Among the 425 cases received, 62.6% were boys and 37.4% girls. The average age of the children was 7.7 years. RTIs occurred mainly in pedestrian (63.8%) who wanted to cross the road. There were more accidents in the city-center area (64.9%) and during afternoons (61%). Lesions of the soft parts (wounds, contusion and decay) were predominated (89.6%) followed by fractures. The upper limbs were the main locations of trauma. Conclusion: RTIs are common among children in Dakar. Boys crossing roads are the largest number of victims. Soft tissue trauma predominates and is mainly found on the thoracic limbs.