J Korean Soc Emerg Med.  2023 Aug;34(4):323-329.

Characteristics of pediatric genital injuries: a 10-year, single-emergency center, retrospective study

• Choi, S
• Kim C

Abstract

Objective
This 10-year, single-center, retrospective study was conducted to examine the characteristics of pediatric genital injuries in a Korean emergency department (ED) setting.
Methods
The current study was conducted on 96 children (n=96) with genital injuries who presented to the ED of our medical institution during a 10-year period between July 16, 2013, and June 15, 2022. The diverse factors associated with the patients’ outcomes were examined. Logistic regression analysis was performed, for which the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated to identify factors contributing to complications.
Results
Outdoors were more prevalent places of genital injuries than indoors in both boys and girls (64.3% and 48.5%, respectively). Straddle injury was the most common injury in boys and girls (35.7% and 64.7%, respectively). The penis and labia were the most prevalent injured organs in boys and girls-53.6% (15/28) and 60.3% (41/68), respectively. Of the patients, 7.3% (7/96) presented with wound infection. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that a delay to surgery >8 hours (OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.10-0.86; P=0.026) and the presence of wound contamination (OR, 3.76; 95% CI, 1.01-13.94; P=0.048) contributed to the occurrence of complications.
Conclusion
The results showed that the age of 4-5 years, female sex, and straddle injury were closely associated with a relatively higher prevalence of pediatric genital injuries. In addition, a delay to surgery >8 hours and wound contamination contributed to complications. Nevertheless, further large-scale studies will be needed to establish the results.

Keyword

Wounds and injuries; Pediatric emergency medicine; Genitalia; Risk factors; Complications