Objective: Head injury is the leading cause of injury-related death and disability among children under the age of 15 years. The aim of this study is to examine prognostic factors and their association with outcome among children with head injury. Methods: In this study, we reviewed 106 children with head injury treated and followed -up in our clinic between 1998 and 2004 retrospectively. Results: Sixty-two (58.49 %) of the 106 cases with cranial head injury were male. Clinical and radiological features of the patients with head injury were retrospectively reviewed. Sixty-one (57.5 %) of 106 children with head injury were between 0-5 years of age. The most common cause of head injury was falling in 67 cases (% 63.2 %). Glasgow Coma Scale (or Children"s Coma Scale (CCS)) scores in our cases in admission were 12-15 in 74 (69.8 %) cases, 8-11 in 17 (16%) cases, 5-7 in 8 (7.6%) cases, and 3-4 in 7 (6.6%) cases. The most common finding in cranial computerized tomographic (CT) scan was linear fracture in 92 cases (93.4 %). Glasgow Outcome Scores (GOS) of the cases were good in 87 (82.1 %) cases. There were moderate neurologic disabilities in 13 (12.3 %) cases, and severe neurologic deficit in five (4.7 %) cases. Only one (0.9 %) case died. Conclusion: Prognosis of children with head trauma is usually good. Prognosis is predicted by neurological evaluation and cranial CT findings at the time of admission.
Key words: Children, children?s coma scale, computerized tomography, head injury, prognosis
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