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Seat belt injuries could indicate more serious spinal trauma in children, study finds
Symptoms of more serious injuries include abdominal and spinal tenderness as well as neurological deficits.
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Children who sustain seat belt injuries resulting from motor vehicle accidents may have other more serious injuries, such as an injury to the spine or spinal cord, that are not immediately apparent, according to a study by researchers in Philadelphia.
"Unless physicians are diligent, spinal-cord injuries are hard to diagnose in children. In the event of a car accident, seat belt injuries, such as bruising and tenderness, should warrant a search for other injuries, including spinal-cord injury, vertebral fractures and intra-abdominal injuries," the authors said in the study.
"If spinal-cord injury is missed or not diagnosed early, the consequences can be devastating," they said.
Harsh Grewal, MD, a pediatric surgeon at Temple University School of Medicine and Hospital, and colleagues reviewed medical literature regarding motor vehicle crashes and children published over the past 10 years. They published their findings in the August issue of the Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine.
The researchers found that children who were involved in car accidents and who were inappropriately seat belted had a higher risk for "seat-belt syndrome," a complex of injuries to the spine and abdomen, according to a Temple University press release announcing the study results.
Consequently, health care professionals should suspect more serious injuries in children who present with bruising or seat belt marks after a car accident. In particular, children aged 4 to 8 years are most likely to use poorly fitted seatbelts or other restraints, the release said.
Grewal recommends that the evaluation of a child or adolescent car-accident victim include a complete examination of vertebral, spinal cord and intra-abdominal injuries.
In addition, symptoms of more serious injury include abdominal or spine tenderness, or both, and neurological deficits, according to the release.