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Fingers accounted for most pediatric amputations
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Finger and thumb amputations accounted for 64% of the more than 950 cases of traumatic amputations among pediatric patients in the United States in 2003.
Using information from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids’ Inpatient Database, investigators from the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Center for Injury Research and Policy of the Research Institute in Columbus, Ohio, found that children aged 4 years or younger most commonly had amputations resulting from being caught in or between objects. More than 80% of these injuries involved a finger or thumb, according to a press release from the hospital.
The findings were similar to data from another traumatic amputations study that was conducted at the institute and published in Pediatrics in 2005. In that study, the youngest age group, those up to 2 years old, had the highest proportion of finger amputations — most of which were related to doors.
“Doors are easily accessible to the exploring fingers of young children, who are unaware of the potential dangers,” study researcher Gary Smith, MD, DrPH, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s, said in the press release. “Prevention strategies, such as doorstops and other door design modifications, can help to reduce the number of door-related amputation injuries.”
The study — the first investigation conducted to examine the national use of health care resources associated with traumatic amputations at the pediatric level using a nationally representative sample — had results that indicated these injuries resulted in more than $21 million in inpatient charges and 3,900 days of hospitalization annually.
“It is imperative that more effective interventions to prevent these costly injuries among children be developed, implemented and evaluated,” Smith said.
Conner K. J Trauma. 2010;68:131-137.