ABSTRACT
I. PEDIATRIC TRAUMA A. Pediatric Injury Patterns For children and teens injury is often part of the experience of growing up. Parents may sometimes wonder if indeed it is possible that children will survive to reach adulthood. Statistics worldwide show accidental injury to be the number one cause of death from the age of 1 to 25 years. It is also a major source of long-lasting disabilities. In many instances, children who sustain a severe traumatic injury will never regain social and developmental capabilities and will require extensive rehabilitation resources for the rest of their lives. Since as many as 50% of trauma deaths occur immediately at the scene, only the prevention of accidents can effectively decrease trauma morbidity and mortality. In Europe, as in North America, home is most often the setting for the accidents of childhood, but with the exception of burns, such accidents represent a small proportion of severe trauma. Although the home is the site of a majority of traumatic events for children and adults, the residential street is the most lethal environment [1].
