OUTCOME OF TRAUMATIC HEAD INJURY IN CHILDREN AND ITS COMPARISON WITH SEVERITY

Abstract

Background:

Head injury (HI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children in Pakistan. The King’s Outcome Scale for Childhood Head Injury (KOSCHI) has been developed to measure outcomes following HI in children.

Material and Methods:

This case series study was conducted at the Department of Pediatrics in Ziauddin University Hospital, Karachi from March 2017 to September 2017. A total of 181 patients with head trauma were included. Severity of head injury was assessed using the Glasgow coma score. Outcomes of head injury were assessed at 2 months using KOSCHI. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Comparison was done using chi square test with p-value ≤ 0.05 was taken as significant.

Results:

There were 69.6% male and 30.4% female patients. Mean duration of head injury was 2.08 ±1.02 hours. The mean comma score was 12.41 ±3.61. 65.2% injuries were mild, 15.5% were moderate, and 19.3% were severe. By KOSCHI, 9.9% of the cases were expired and 1.1% were vegetative. Severe disability was observed in 4.4% of the cases, moderate disability in 8.3%, and 76.2% of the cases were observed as good recovery.

Conclusion:

Children with mild HI had moderate disability and those with severe injury had high mortality rate and severe disability at follow up