Pediatr Emerg Med J.  2022 Dec;9(2):95-102. 10.22470/pemj.2022.00507.

Epidemiologic features according to age groups of pediatric dental injury in emergency departments

• Kim SW
• Choi JY
• Cho JS
• Woo JH
• Jang JH
• Choi WS
• Hyun SY

• KMID: 2538070
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.22470/pemj.2022.00507

Abstract

Purpose
The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiologic features of pediatric dental injury according to age groups using Korean national data.
Methods
We reviewed the data from 2015 to 2019 Emergency Department-based Injury In-depth Surveillance registry, which involves 23 emergency departments in Korea. We included children aged 18 years or younger with the International Classification of Disease, 10th Revision codes related to dental injury. Other or combined codes were excluded. The children were classified by age groups: infants (< 1 year), preschoolers (2-6), schoolers (7-12), and adolescents (13-18). As per the age groups, we compared the clinical characteristics, injury event profiles, and outcomes.
Results
The study population (n = 33,020) consisted of 8,900 infants (27.0%), 15,705 preschoolers (47.6%), 5,295 schoolers (16.0%), and 3,120 adolescents (9.4%). Their median age was 3 years (interquartile range, 1-7), and boys accounted for 64.2%. The most common mechanism, type of activity, and place were slip down (14,274 [43.2%]), daily activity (23,777 [72.0%]), and home (19,980 [60.5%]), respectively. Among the injury types, soft tissue injury was most common (24,357 [73.8%]). As for the outcomes, 32,841 (99.5%) children were discharged, and 332 (1.0%) children had severe injury. As the age increased, the frequencies changed as follows. As for the place and type, household injury and soft tissue injury decreased while outdoor injury, such as road traffic injury, and tooth fracture increased (P < 0.001). As for the type of activity, injuries related to exercise/sports and education increased (P < 0.001). Of the sports activity, ball sports increased while kickboard/cycle decreased (P < 0.001).
Conclusion
Using the epidemiologic features of pediatric dental injury, it is advisable to establish injury prevention strategies according to the age groups.

Keyword

Age Groups; Emergency Service, Hospital; Epidemiology; Pediatrics; Tooth Injuries

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Flowchart of the study population. ICD: International Classification of Diseases.

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  Fig. 2. Annual trend of dental injury-related emergency department visits. The annual visits were 6,983, 6,681, 7,256, 6,230, and 5,870 in the order of years, indicating a steady trend. The boys (shaded bars) were twice as many as the girls (open bars).

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  Fig. 3. Monthly trends. The largest and smallest visits occurred in May and October, and in January, respectively. Among the age groups, the preschoolers (solid) were largest, followed by the infants (dotted), schoolers (dash), and adolescents (chain lines).

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  Fig. 4. Temporal trend. The numbers of visits were 10,590, 20,734, and 1,696 in the order of slots. Each bar indicates each age group: adolescents (black), schoolers (stippled), preschoolers (gray), and infants (open bars).

Reference

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