臺灣地區學齡前兒童頭部外傷之探討

In this study, a total of 1,030 pre-school children with head injuries were collected from 31 hospitals in Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien, from July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2001, The male to female ratio was 1.67. Falls (60%) and traffic accidents (24.7%) were the two leading causes of injury among pre-school children. The results of this study showed that the rates of falls from height ＞1m, heights ＜1m, and slip (or stumbles) were 19.3%, 34.8% and 40.2%, respectively. Among traffic accidents, pedestrian acci-dents had the highest incidence rate (36.2%), followed by motorcycle-related accidents(31.7%). In this study, we also found that 83.6%(815) of pre-school children had mild head injuries, 10.5% had moderate injuries, and 5.9% had 5.9% had severe injuries. Although head injuries in pre-school children cannot be completely eradicated, most are preventable.