Prevalencia de traumatismo craneoencefálico en pacientes de 1 a14 años atendidos en el Hospital del Niño “Dr. Francisco de Icaza Bustamante” en el periodo 2021 al 2023.

Abstract

Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a central nervous system injury caused by mechanical impact, with greater consequences in pediatric patients due to the high vascularity of the scalp and structural factors. Worldwide, 57 million cases are reported annually, with 20 million in children and adolescents. In the United States, 500,000 children suffer TBI each year, most of them mild. In Ecuador, TBI is the fourth leading cause of death in children between 1 and 14 years of age, highlighting the need to better understand its epidemiology. The objective of this research is to estimate the prevalence of traumatic brain injury in patients between 1 and 14 years of age treated at the Hospital del niño “Dr. Francisco de Icaza Bustamante” in the period 2021 to 2023. Methodology: A descriptive, observational, cross-sectional and retrospective study was carried out with 245 patients who met the inclusion criteria by reviewing medical records. Results: A prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) of 1.2% was reported in the pediatric population. The most affected patients were mainly children aged 6 to 11 years and the male sex predominated. Clinical management was the most common (88.2%), with headache as the predominant symptom and nosocomial pneumonia as the most frequent complication. CT scans revealed cerebral edema (26.1%) as the most common injury, and most cases were classified as mild TBI (73.1%). Falls were the main cause of TBI in 51.8% of patients. Conclusion: In the Hospital del Niño “Dr. Francisco Icaza Bustamante”, the prevalence of TBI in children aged 1 to 14 years was 1.2%, being more common in middle childhood and with a positive clinical resolution in 88.2% of cases. Most cases were mild and caused by falls.