Epidemiology of electrical and lightning related deaths and injuries among Canadian children and youth

Abstract

Among burn injuries, electrical injuries constitute a small but devastating fraction. To describe the epidemiology of electrical injuries in Canadian children, data on deaths and emergency department visits related to electrical injuries, including lightning strikes, were obtained from provincial coroners’ offices and the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP) respectively, for the years 1991–96. Twenty one deaths and 606 emergency visits highlight that electrical related deaths, more frequent among school age children, are more likely the result of high voltage and lightning strike, while emergency department visits, more frequent among younger children, are more likely the result of low voltage. While the introduction of legislated standards for child safe outlets and educational programs for parents, children, and youth are recommended strategies toward reducing the frequency of these incidents, these strategies require further evaluation before their effectiveness can be estimated.

Childhood deaths due to electrocution in Adana, Turkey

“…Electrocution deaths occur generally with a voltage of 110–380 V, which is the range found in homes and workplaces (16). In our study, it was determined that the majority of deaths (n = 34, 91.9%) were secondary to low‐voltage currents used at home and at work, similar to other relevant studies (12,15,17). Domestic accidents were responsible in 19 (51.4%) of the cases in our study, parallel with the literature (12,15).…”

“…In our study, it was determined that the majority of deaths (n = 34, 91.9%) were secondary to low‐voltage currents used at home and at work, similar to other relevant studies (12,15,17). Domestic accidents were responsible in 19 (51.4%) of the cases in our study, parallel with the literature (12,15). Similar to our study, various studies have also stated that deaths due to electrocution are higher in males than they are in females (12,15,17–19).…”

“…In a study carried out by Nguyen et al, it was determined that the annual rate of electrical deaths (including lightning) among Canadian children 0–19 years old was 0.045/100 000 (15). On the other hand, in one of our previous studies, 2.6% of all medico‐legal deaths including the adult and childhood age groups were due to electrocution (3).…”

Factors Affecting the Clinical Outcome of Low-Voltage Electrical Injuries in Children

“…In the literature, boys are characteristically injured more often than girls. 4,7,8 Two thirds of our patients were boys, but sex had no effect on mortality.…”

The occurrence of single and multiple organ dysfunction in pediatric electrical versus other thermal burns

“…The populations most prone to electrical injury are young children, teenagers, and adults exposed to occupational electrical hazards (1,2). Although overall mortality from high-voltage (HV) electrical injury is low, this type of injury is associated with particularly high morbidity, leading to the need for more surgical procedures and amputations as well as cardiac and renal complications (3–5).…”