Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate the epidemiology of paediatric hand injuries treated in emergency departments (EDs) in Foshan City, as well as to supply data for the development of preventive strategies in South China and similar developing areas.

 

Methods: From July 2010 to June 2011, a multicentre study was prospectively designed and conducted in five large hospital EDs in Foshan. An anonymous questionnaire was specially designed for data

collection. 

 

Results: A total of 317 (95.48%) subjects with paediatric hand injuries completed question-naires within the one-year study period. Most subjects were injured at home or work (40.69% vs 36.60%). The majority of paediatric hand injuries occurred in daily activities (164, 51.74%) or were caused by crushing (144, 45.43%). There were significant statistical differences among age groups and places of occurrence (p < 0.05). Most subjects got their fingers injured (174, 54.89%). About 116 (36.59%) subjects were injured while at work and 106 (91.38%) subjects had medical insurance. About 59 (50.86%) subjects had < 0.5 year of job tenure. However, only less than half of the subjects (46.55%) had the related experience of safety training. Upon the occurrence of hand injuries, the subjects had been working for 4.49 ± 3.05 hours without rest. Among them, 19 (5.99%) subjects were younger than 16 years old and should not be employed, according to the Chinese labour law.

 

Conclusions: Epidemiology data enhance our knowledge of paediatric hand injuries and facilitate prevention and treatment in the future, thus reducing loss of hand function as well as psychological and economic burden.