EVALUATION OF THE CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ROAD TRAFFIC INJURIES IN CHILDREN AS A MEDICAL AND SANITARY CONSEQUENCE OF A MAN-MADE EMERGENCY
Authors: Guryev S. , Kushnir V. , Grebeniuk V. , Volianskyi P. 
Published: December 2023

One of the main causes of death among children is road traffi c injuries. In Ukraine, such a problem is quite acute due to infrastructural and socio- economic factors, and with the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into the sovereign territory of Ukraine, this problem has become even more acute. The aim of the study is to determine and evaluate the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of traffi c injuries among children as a medical and sanitary consequence of an emergency situation.

Materials and methods. The study is based on the study and retrospective analysis of 259 cases of road traffi c injuries in children, which formed the body of the study. The formation of the array was carried out by the method of irreversible randomization from 1,671 victims of road traffi c accidents who received road traffi c injuries in rural and urban areas in 2018-2019. Randomization was carried out according to the age of the child from 0 to 18 years. The specifi c gravity of children’s road traffi c injuries was 15.50 % of the total number of road traffi c accident victims.The scope of the research exceeds what is necessary and suffi cient according to the law of large numbers. The methods of analysis were parametric, non-parametric methods of statistical analysis, fractal analysis, laws of formal logic. The analysis was carried out using computer technologies in the system Statistica. The study was conducted within the framework of the Doctoral Thesis «Road Traffi c Accident (Clinical- Epidemiological, Clinical-Nosological Characteristics, Clinical Features of the Course of the Traumatic Process, Principles of Medical Care)», approved by the Academic Council of the «Ukrainian Scientifi c and Practical Center of Emergency Medical Aid and Disaster Medicine of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine» (Protocol of the Meeting of the Scientifi c Council No. 6, December 2020). of Emergency Medical Aid and Disaster Medicine of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine» (Minutes of the meeting of the Scientifi c Council No. 6 dated December 15, 2020) in accordance with the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Bioethics Commission of the «Ukrainian Scientifi c and Practical Center of Emergency Medical Aid and Disaster Medicine of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine» (Minutes No. 10 dated December 8, 2020).Research results. As a result of the study, it was determined that the majority of the population is male (boys) – 52.33 %. Girls make up 47.67 %. This is 12.79 % of the total mass. In the mass of those who died, boys predominate by specifi c weight – 81.82 %, and in the mass of those who survived, girls predominate (52.00 %). The mortality rate for boys is 20.00 %, and for girls – 4.88 %, i. e. the risk of dying in a traffi c accident is 4 times higher for boys than for girls. In the total body of research by age, children aged 6-18 years (school period) have the highest specifi c weight – 89.19 %, in second place – children aged 3-6 years (preschool period), 9.27 %, and the lowest specifi c we ight – children aged 0-3 years (1.54 %). The highest mortality was recorded in the age group 0-3 years – 25.00 %, the lowest – in the age group 3-6 years, 12.50 %. According to the sign of participation in traffi c in the total array, the largest specifi c weight of injured children falls on passengers of four-wheeled vehicles – 46.51 %, in second place – children- pedestrians with an indicator of 37.21 %, drivers and passengers of two-wheeled vehicles have the lowest specifi c weight – 16.28 %. Pedestrians account for more than half of the mass of the dead – 54.55 %. The fatality rate among drivers and passengers of two-wheeled vehicles is 7.14 %, amongpassengers of four-wheeled vehicles – 10.00 %, and the highest – among pedestrians – 18.75 %.Conclusions. Road traffi c injuries in children have certain clinical and epidemiological characteristics, which consist in gender and age characteristics and participation in traffi c. In the range of victims, boys predominate – 52.33 %, at the same time, a signifi cant infl uence of sex on the outcome of the traumatic process has been established, and girls have a greater chance of survival. Age has a signifi cant infl uence on both the occurrence of road traffi c injury and the outcome of the traumatic process. Children aged 6-18 years have the highest specifi c weight among the injured – 89.19 %. The highest mortality is observed in the age group of 0-3 years – 25.00 %. Participation of children in road traffi c has a strong infl uence both on the formation of the number of victims and on the outcome of the traumatic process. The largest specifi c weight has four-wheeled vehicle passengers – 46.51 % and pedestrians – 37.21 %. The highest mortality rate is observed among pedestrians – 18.75 %.