BACKGROUND Despite the suggestion that the inflammatory response in traumatized children is functionally unique, prognostic markers predicting pediatric multiple organ failure are lacking. We intended to verify whether Interleukin-6 (IL-6) displays a pivotal role in pediatric trauma similar to adults. METHODS Traumatized children less than 18 years of age with an Injury Severity Score >9 poin...

BACKGROUND Acute kidney injury (AKI) has been hard to assess due to the lack of standard definitions. Recently, the Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss and End-Stage Kidney (RIFLE) classification has been proposed to classify AKI in a number of clinical settings. This study aims to estimate the frequency and levels of severity of AKI and to study its association with patient mortality and length of sta...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) has increased during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan compared with 20th century military conflicts. The aim of this study was to elucidate injury-specific correlates of combat-related TBI that have yet to be clearly defined. PARTICIPANTS Predominately Marine US service members who sustained brain injuries in Iraq between March 2004 an...

BACKGROUND Considerable indirect costs are incurred by time taken off work following accidental injuries. The aim of this study was to predict return to work following serious accidental injuries. METHOD 121 severely injured patients were included in the study. Complete follow-up data were available for 85 patients. Two weeks post trauma (T1), patients rated their appraisal of the injury seve...

BACKGROUND Head injuries, especially in young children, are frequent and may cause long-lasting impairments. OBJECTIVES To investigate the outcome of head and other injuries caused by diverse mechanisms and of varied severity. METHODS The study population consisted of Jews and Arabs (n=792), aged 0-17 years old, hospitalized for injuries in six hospitals in Israel. Caregivers were interview...

Ranking of head injuries by severity is an essential part of clinical management, of prognosis, of treatment trials, and of legal assessment for compensation. Various methods of assessing severity are reviewed. No one scale is appropriate for all types of injury, or in all circumstances. A check list is provided which should enable every injury to be assessed; its use would facilitate compariso...

5 January 2015, Vol. 105, No. 1 Injury severity in relation to seatbelt use To the Editor: I read the article by Van Hoving et al.[1] with great interest. Two interesting aspects of the study are that it included patients in the prehospital setting, and involved both the Division of Emergency Medicine and the Department of Civil Engineering at their institution (Stellenbosch University, Western...

PRINCIPALS Accidents in agriculture are a problem of global importance. The hazards of working in agriculture are manifold (machines, animals, heights). We therefore assessed injury severity and mortality from accidents in farming. METHODS We retrospectively analysed all farming accidents treated over a 12-year period in the emergency department (ED) of our level I trauma centre. RESULTS Ou...

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between trauma severity and the degree of cord injury in patients with ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL). Four-hundred-one patients were classified into Group A (OPLL(+)), Group B (spinal stenosis (+) and OPLL(-)), and Group C (OPLL (-) and spinal stenosis(-)). Trauma severity and neurological injury severity were co...