Accidents, poisoning and violence as a cause of hospital admissions in children.

A study has been carried out to assess the pattern of child admissions to Tayside Hospitals as a result of accidents, poisoning and violence (hereafter referred to simply as 'accidents') during 1989, and to determine if any major changes have taken place since 1980. The length of stay resulting from each class of accident was used as an approximate indicator of severity and the consumption of Health Service resources. In 1989, 1,388 of Tayside's 70,609 children were admitted to hospital as a result of accidents. With a total of 4,140 days spent in hospital, an average of 11.3 beds are constantly occupied by child accident victims (not including the long-term disabled). Falls resulted in the largest number of admissions to hospital, with poisoning, and having been accidentally struck by persons or objects, in second and third place. Analysis of bed usage, however, revealed a different pattern. While falls remained the biggest consumer of bed days, these were now followed by motor vehicle traffic accidents (MVTAs) and scalds. The average length of stay for MVTAs and scalds was 9.1 and 9.0 days respectively compared with an average of 2.8 days for all types of accident. Poisoning and scalds showed a remarkable age dependence with 81% of children admitted for poisoning or suspected poisoning being in the 1-3 year age group, and 63% admitted for scalds under the age of two.