Epidemiology of serious head injuries in childhood.

A survey of 87 serious head injuries of children from 3--14 years old revealed road traffic accidents to be the cause of most of the long-term morbidity and nearly all the mortality. Social background of these children was not significantly different from the general population in respect of class or family size, but there was an excess of children of high birth order and probably from single parent families, suggesting a lack of supervision. The need for a multidisciplinary approach to the rehabilitation of the child with severe head injury is emphasized.