Facial Trauma among Children and Adolescents Victims of Traffic Accidents

Introduction: In the literature there are several studies on facial trauma, but the epidemiology of these lesions is not well characterized regarding children and adolescents. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the prevalence of facial trauma among Brazilian children and adolescents victims of traffic accidents. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed from 196 reports of children and adolescents undergoing forensic examination for a period of four years in a Forensic Unit located in a metropolitan area of Northeast Brazil. The statistical analysis included the calculation of absolute frequencies and percentages of the variables and a chi-square test (p<0.05) in order to identify possible associations. Results: A total of 21.1% of the victims had facial trauma. The average age of victims was 13.23 (SD = 4.77). Most of the victims were male (68.4%), belonging to the age group 12-18 years (69.9%) from rural areas (56.5%). The most common type of traffic accident was motorcycle accident (52.6%), mainly occurring during the day (55.8%) and during weekdays (72.5%). Trauma cases prevailed in lower limbs (36.1%), followed by multiple trauma cases (33.0%). Moreover, the majority of facial trauma was in soft tissue areas (63.4%) and in more than one third of the face (50.0%). The presence of facial trauma was associated with the type of accident (p = 0.030) and the time of day (p = 0.012). Conclusions: Most victims were adolescents; most cases occurred during weekdays and motorcycle accidents constituted the main etiologic agent.