Retrospective review of dog bite injuries in children presenting to a South Australian tertiary children's hospital emergency department

Abstract

Dog bite injuries are common in children and often require admission for inpatient care. This presents as a significant public health burden. For this reason, prevention initiatives need to be implemented on an ongoing basis.

Emergency department presentations with mammalian bite injuries: risk factors for admission and surgery

“…In children under 15 years of age, dog bites were more common than other bites (92% of all mammalian bites in this age group were dog bites); further, 20.2% of all dog bites were presented by children under 15 years of age, similar to other reported findings 1 , 5 . ‐ 7 , 10 …”

“…Our data identified certain trends that are consistent with other findings in the literature. Males were more likely to sustain bite injuries, especially by dogs, [5][6][7][8][9] and cat bites were more common in females, as in previous reports. 1 In children under 15 years of age, dog bites were more common than other bites (92% of all mammalian bites in this age group were dog bites); further, 20.2% of all dog bites were presented by children under 15 years of age, similar to other reported findings.…”

“…1 In children under 15 years of age, dog bites were more common than other bites (92% of all mammalian bites in this age group were dog bites); further, 20.2% of all dog bites were presented by children under 15 years of age, similar to other reported findings. 1,[5][6][7]10 We also confirmed that the average age of patients presenting with cat bites was higher than for patients presenting with other animal bites. 10 The most common site of injury for animal bites of any type was an upper limb, consistent with previous studies, 1 although some authors found that the lower limbs were the predominant site of injury for dog bites.…”

“…In our study, dog bites more frequently caused head and neck injuries in younger patients than in adults. It has been proposed that children are at particular risk because of their shorter stature, lower capacity for self‐defence, and poorer risk awareness with regard to potentially provocative behaviour 7 , 9 …”

Evaluation of Pediatric Patients with Animal Bites and Rabies Suspected Exposures

“…Chiam ve ark. 'nın 15 ça-lışmasında da küçük yaş grubu (0-4 yaş) en sık ısırılan gruptur. Bu yaştaki çocukların fiziksel gelişimlerinin henüz tamamlanmamış olması ve hayvanlara karşı nasıl davranmaları gerektiğini bilmemelerinin neden olabileceği düşünülmüştür.…”