{"title":"2023 catastrophic Turkey earthquake: clinical outcomes of pediatric patients rescued under the rubble.","authors":"Ayşe Hitay Telefon, Ümit Çelik, Elif Afat Turgut, Tuğba Kandemir Gülmez, Merve Kılıç Çil, Gülsüm Sönmez, Sevgin Taner","doi":"10.1080/00325481.2024.2354654","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Children are the most vulnerable population affected by the earthquake. We aimed to examine the characteristics, morbidity, mortality, and the factors affecting these pediatric earthquake victims to guide the follow-up of pediatric patients who were rescued under the rubble in possible future disasters.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This is a retrospective observational study. The files of pediatric earthquake victims aged 0-18 years who were admitted to Adana City Training and Research Hospital between 6 February-30 April 2023 were analyzed. 318 patients were included in the study.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of all patients 48.7% (<i>n</i> = 155) were female and 51.3% (<i>n</i> = 163) were male. The mean age of the patients was 114.8 months. 65.4% (<i>n</i> = 208) of the patients were discharged from our hospital, eighteen patients (5.7%) died. Information on the hour when the patients were rescued under the rubble could be reached in 117 (36.8%) patients. The mean rescue time of these patients was 50.5 hours. 62 (53%) victims were rescued in the first 24 hours after the earthquake. There were 111 patients (34.9%) with fractures. There were 118 patients (37.1%) who underwent fasciotomy surgery. The total number of patients with amputation was 48 (15.1%). There were 36 patients (11.3%) with one limb amputated, 12 patients (%3.7) with more than one limb amputation. Internal organ injury was present in 30.5% (<i>n</i> = 97) of the patients. Of these patients, 85.6% (<i>n</i> = 83) had single organ trauma and 14.4% (<i>n</i> = 14) had multiple organ trauma. There were 58 patients (18.2%) with acute renal failure in follow-up. The mean rescue time for patients with amputation was 83.65 ± 62.9 hours, and for patients without amputation was 36.44 ± 50.6 hours. This difference was statistically significant (<i>p</i> = 0.001). No statistically significant difference was found when the ages of the patients were compared to fasciotomy, amputation, and fracture status.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>While evaluating earthquake-induced trauma, pediatric patients should be approached carefully.</p>","PeriodicalId":94176,"journal":{"name":"Postgraduate medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Postgraduate medicine","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00325481.2024.2354654","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/5/17 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives: Children are the most vulnerable population affected by the earthquake. We aimed to examine the characteristics, morbidity, mortality, and the factors affecting these pediatric earthquake victims to guide the follow-up of pediatric patients who were rescued under the rubble in possible future disasters.
Methods: This is a retrospective observational study. The files of pediatric earthquake victims aged 0-18 years who were admitted to Adana City Training and Research Hospital between 6 February-30 April 2023 were analyzed. 318 patients were included in the study.
Results: Of all patients 48.7% (n = 155) were female and 51.3% (n = 163) were male. The mean age of the patients was 114.8 months. 65.4% (n = 208) of the patients were discharged from our hospital, eighteen patients (5.7%) died. Information on the hour when the patients were rescued under the rubble could be reached in 117 (36.8%) patients. The mean rescue time of these patients was 50.5 hours. 62 (53%) victims were rescued in the first 24 hours after the earthquake. There were 111 patients (34.9%) with fractures. There were 118 patients (37.1%) who underwent fasciotomy surgery. The total number of patients with amputation was 48 (15.1%). There were 36 patients (11.3%) with one limb amputated, 12 patients (%3.7) with more than one limb amputation. Internal organ injury was present in 30.5% (n = 97) of the patients. Of these patients, 85.6% (n = 83) had single organ trauma and 14.4% (n = 14) had multiple organ trauma. There were 58 patients (18.2%) with acute renal failure in follow-up. The mean rescue time for patients with amputation was 83.65 ± 62.9 hours, and for patients without amputation was 36.44 ± 50.6 hours. This difference was statistically significant (p = 0.001). No statistically significant difference was found when the ages of the patients were compared to fasciotomy, amputation, and fracture status.
Conclusion: While evaluating earthquake-induced trauma, pediatric patients should be approached carefully.