Pattern of Fingertip injuries Amongst Patients Admitted at a Paediatric Hospital in Nairobi: A Retrospecive Study

Background : Fingertip injuries are a common cause of unintentional trauma in children. The main aim of this study was to determine the epidemiology of fingertip injuries amongst children admitted at a paediatric hospital in Nairobi. Methods : This was a retrospective hospital based multivariate survey conducted on fingertip injury patients aged 0 to 13 years over a five year period 2003 to 2007. Results : A total of 1033 children were admitted with injuries of which cases with fingertip injuries were studied accounting for 51 cases (4.9%). The age range of the study population was 1 to 13 years. The majority of patients (29.4%) were aged between 1 and 2 years old. Males made up 62.7%. 78.4% of injuries took place at home and all were unintentional or accidental. The fingers most commonly involved were the little finger (26.5 %), the middle finger (20.4%) and the thumb (16.3%). Majority were soft tissue injuries (74.5%) with a smaller number undergoing some degree of amputation (25.5%). Most patients underwent minor surgery (80.4%), 9.8% major surgery and for 2% no surgery was done. Conclusion : Finger injuries are a common preventable cause of childhood morbidity. Measures should be instituted to reduce their incidence. Key words : fingertip, injury, finger trapping, paediatric, children, Nairobi