Pediatric electrical injury in Turkey: Five year retrospective hospital-based study

Electrical injuries in children-a 6-year retrospective study

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to assess the clinical epidemiological characteristics of children with electrical injuries and discuss the countermeasures for the prevention of electrical injuries in children.

METHODS

The children with electrical injuries were grouped according to whether or not they were admitted to the hospital for treatment into inpatient and outpatient groups. Clinical data such as gender, causes of injury and injury-causing voltage distribution in different age groups were analyzed. The factors affecting hospitalization were subjected to χ2 test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 321 children were included with 37 divided into inpatient group and 284 divided into outpatient group. The incidence of electrical injuries was highest in children ≤6 years old and in the summer. There were significantly different in gender, place of occurrence, cause of injury and injury-causing voltage between the two groups (p < 0.05). Injury-causing voltage is an independent risk factor affecting hospitalization of children with electrical injuries (OR = 0.116, 95 %CI = 0.040-0.334, p = 0.000). In children ≤6 years old, boys suffered electrical injuries more frequently than girls; battery powered vehicle (47.53 %) was primarily the cause of injury; most of the patients (64.64 %) were exposed to low voltage below 100 Vs, mainly in the case of adolescent children.

CONCLUSION

Male preschoolers accounted for the majority of electrical injury cases, and these accidents mostly happened in household electrical appliances and household battery cars. Overall, it is necessary to improve family electrical safety education and reinforce protective measures against electric injury to children.

Deaths associated with electric shock injuries in children and adults: A 10-year retrospective examination in Şanlıurfa, Southeast Turkey (2012-2022)

Electric shock injuries (EIs) have high rates of morbidity and mortality in both children and adults. The aim of this study was to examine autopsy cases resulting from EIs and to compare pediatric and adult groups with respect to sociodemographic data, clinical characteristics, location of the incident, electricity entry-exit wound characteristics, current direction, pathological effects of the electric shocks on the body, and cause of death. A total of 8075 autopsies conducted between 2012 and 2022 were retrospectively examined. Şanliurfa is a city in the southeast of Turkey with the highest birth rate in the country. Of 123 cases of death resulting from EIs in Şanliurfa, 58 (47.2%) were children (age < 18 years). In the majority of children (81%), a low-voltage injury resulted from a domestic appliance while the children were playing at home in a rural area. In the vast majority of adults, a high-voltage injury (HVI) resulted from a workplace accident due to working with HVI materials in an area outside the home. The manner of death was accidental in all the electric shock injuries. The electricity entry and exit wounds formed as a result of EIs had similar characteristics in both children and adults, with no significant difference identified. In the province of Şanliurfa, Turkey, which borders Syria and where the main occupation is agricultural activities, there is a need to increase electrical safety precautions within the home, educate parents, and increase electrical safety conditions and worker education in the workplace.

Epidemiology of Occupational Electrical Injuries

Electrical injuries are an uncommon but very destructive type of burn, with serious complications and disabilities for the victims. This study was conducted due to the importance of understanding the epidemiology of electrical accidents in planning to prevent their occurrence. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study that was performed on patients with electrical burns referred to Shahid Motahari Educational and Medical Center from 2017 to 2018. Patients' information was entered in the researcher-made information registration form, including demographic and accident-related information. In this study, most of the accidents occurred in the workplace with high-voltage electricity. Contact with overhead cables and wires was the most common cause of injury. Excision and graft surgeries were the most common type of surgery. The variables of sex, age, length of hospital stay, and type of job had a significant relationship with the type of voltage (P < .05). The difference between the ratio of men to women and the length of hospitalization in the group of injured with high-voltage electricity was greater and most of these patients were construction workers. The variables of sex, nationality, length of hospital stay, and cause of the accident had a significant relationship with the type of job (P < .05). Construction workers are the main group at risk of electrical damage in Iran. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct more extensive studies in the field of recognizing and implementing practical methods of preventing electrical injuries, especially in high-risk work environments.