Accidental fall

Fall-Related Traumatic Brain Injury.

Fall prevention

Accidental falls are a common cause of disability and trauma-related death in the pediatric population, accounting for a large number of pediatric emergency hospital admissions. This multicenter study assesses the clinical characteristics, management outcomes of pediatric falls-related traumatic brain injury and associated factors in Nigeria.

Methods: A retrospective study of pediatric patients (age less than 18-years) with falls over a 2-year period. Data was extracted from clinical records and neurosurgical data sheets from three major centres in Nigeria, and was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi square test and multinomial regression with significance set at p < 0.05.

Results: 128 children presented with fall-related TBI, with a median age of 96 months (age range of 5-216 months) and M:F was 6:1. 40.6 % had moderate head injury and 55.5 % of the falls were building related. There were 52(42.6 %) children with skull fractures. Older children more commonly fell from trees and had more cases of severe head injury (14.1 %) compared with those who fell from buildings (5.5 %). Children who fell from buildings presented early (64.1 %). The 10 % mortality was mainly in children older than 5-years. Children aged 0-5 years were three times likely to fall inside/outside a building (OR: 3.3, CI: 3.06 to 243.44). Also, those who fell from trees were 6 times more likely to have a long bone fracture (OR: 6.1, CI: 1.2 to 32.6).

Conclusions: In the Nigerian population Traumatic Brain Injury from falls is common among children, with older children falling more from trees and associated with high mortality ¹⁾

Findings support the idea that motor and, to some degree, cognitive functions are needed to successfully negotiate obstacles, and provide new insights into the ability of older adults to successfully negotiate obstacles. Furthermore, results suggest that when it comes to the physical properties of obstacles, not all is as expected, and low obstacles may impose a greater danger to tripping than obstacles that have a higher height ²⁾.

Fall-related surgery was performed by the orthopedics (OP) and neurosurgery (NS) faculties at a 2 to 1 ratio. The major underlying brain diseases were a combination of white matter disease (WMD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) (79%) followed by dementia with Lewy bodies. In contrast, for NS, the most common surgery was for patients with alcoholism (50%) followed by a combination of WMD and AD ³⁾.

de Souza et al., analyzed 1071 fall incidents in a hospital. The incidence of falls in inpatient units was 1.7 per 1000 patient days. Among the recorded falls, 95.3% occurred in patients who had been previously assessed as being at high or moderate risk of falls; 61.5% were using medications associated with increased risk of falls. Regarding age, 70.8% of the falls occurred in patients aged ≥60 years. Falls occurred mostly (72.6%) in inpatients units, and in 63.4% of the incidents the fall was witnessed by a family member/companion or a health team professionals. No injuries were recorded in 71.4% of the patients. Serious adverse events or sentinel events, such as fractures or head trauma occurred in 2.1% of the patients. Of these, 80% were in the group aged ≥60 years; 83% of the head traumas and 58% of the fractures occurred in patients who had been assessed as being at high risk of falls. Fractures were associated (p = 0.026) with age 70-79 years.

At the hospital where the study was performed, new fall prevention strategies must focus on patients admitted to inpatient units, aged ≥60 years, assessed as being at high risk of falls, and using medications associated with increased risk of falls ⁴⁾.

Despite the growing epidemic of falls, the true incidence of peripheral nerve injury (PNIs) in this patient population remains largely unknown.