Pediatric Trauma - A Silent Epidemic

Trauma is the leading cause of preventable deaths in children all over the world. In the majority of cases, children are innocent victims of road traffic accidents. They suffer from both short-term and long-term impacts of trauma. Deaths from road traffic accidents can be prevented by adopting simple road safety measures and the use of protective equipment. Worldwide programs have been initiated to curb this ever-rising menace; however, the success of these programs depends on their outreach and acceptance among the population in general. Golden hours in trauma management is the initial hour post-trauma, the success of resuscitation depends on the appropriate management of pediatric trauma victims in hospitals dedicated to the management of pediatric trauma victims. The current review highlights the epidemiology, pattern of injury, road safety measures, and global health initiatives for the prevention of accident-related injury in children. The shortcomings of this review are as follows- Firstly pediatric trauma is an exhaustive topic, it is impossible to cover all aspects of pediatric trauma. Thus, the review might have missed some important aspects of pediatric trauma. Secondly, the concept of a pediatric trauma registry is nonexistent in almost all developing countries; hence a true picture of pediatric trauma epidemiology and injury patterns is missing. Thirdly not much work has been done on pediatric trauma in developing countries leading to insufficient data from these countries.