Traumatic skull fractures in children and adolescents: A retrospective observational study.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the epidemiological features of child and adolescent (≤18 years old) patients managed for traumatic skull fractures (TSKFs) and associated traumatic brain injury (TBI).

DESIGN

393 Patients who were children and adolescent who had TSKFs admitted to our university affiliated hospitals between January 2003 and December 2010. The incidence and patterns were summarized with respect to different age group, admission time and etiology.

SETTING

Two university-affiliated hospitals from January 2003 to May 2010.

RESULTS

The most common etiologies were motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) (166, 42.2%) and high fall (101, 25.7%). The most common skull fracture sites were parietal fractures (n=111, 28.2%) and basilar skull fracture (n=111, 28.2%). A total of 300 (76.3%) patients suffered TBI and 23 (5.9%) patients suffered OCI. The most common intracranial hemorrhage was epidural hemorrhage (n=94, 23.9%). The frequencies of emergency admission, medical insurance and associated injuries were 56.2% (n=221), 22.4% (n=88) and 37.2% (n=146). The frequencies of TBI and associated injuries were significantly increased from 53.45% to 76.3% and from 6.9% to 41.6% with age, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

MVCs were the most common etiologies. Parietal and basilar skull fractures, epidural hemorrhages were the most common fracture sites and intracranial hemorrhage.