Acidentes em crianças menores de dez anos: análise das internações em Prontos - Socorros Públicos de São Luís, MA.

Objective: To analyze accidents in children under ten admitted at First Aid Emergency Public Centers in Sao Luis, MA. Methods: Quantitative study with a sample of 166 children from August to November 2011. They were evaluated demographic, socio-economical and variable data related to the accident. In comparison to the main variable categorical, we used the Chi-square test. Results: The age categories included 51.8% of children aged 6-9, 35.5% between 2-5 and 12.7% were smaller or equal to one. It was predominant the male sex (69.9%); the countryside origin (53.6%); the children admitted had family income to 1 minimum wage (60.2%). The most frequent accidents were: falls (55.4%), transportation accidents (21.1%) and burns (12.7%). The accidents occurred mainly at homes (63.3%), on weekends (39.2%) and in the afternoon (53.6%). In relation to falls accidents, burns and strange body, there was some significance statistic at age (p = 0.001). Conclusions: We conclude that most of the accidents suffered by children in Sao Luis, MA who looked for First Aid Emergency Public Centers were low to the average seriousness at 82.0% of hospitalization for a period from 1 to 4 days.