Epidemiology of Hand Injury in Children

Objective: To study the types and presentation of hand injuries in children. Method and Materials: A prospective study was done at the emergency department of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre from 24th October, 2014 to 30th December, 2014 (a duration of six weeks). The data was collected on 50 out-patient children but we also followed the in-patient to find the outcome of their injuries. A self-designed questionnaire was administered and was filled by the parents of the participants. The questionnaire was explained in a one to one meeting by our volunteers. The volunteers were encouraging and friendly. Results: The most common reason of hand injury in our settings was due to road traffic accidents (34%); followed by the second reason, a fall of an object on the hand. In most of the cases, 68% of the participants involved the right hand whereas in 32% of the participants, the left hand was involved. The most common bone to be fractured in children was the scaphoid with the 1st metacarpal bone. Conclusion: The goal of the study was to find out the various modes of presentation and types of the hand injuries in the accident and emergency department and to emphasize the regions commonly injured during a hand trauma. Better understanding of the type and manner of hand injuries will lead the physicians to emphasize on the areas more commonly injured and take suitable measures for their treatment accordingly. The rising number of hand injuries and knowledge about their pattern encourages the authorities to take suitable action and measures for its prevention and treatment which has been an area of neglect.