This scientific poster presents a one-year project that was undertaken to determine the incidence, severity and clinical course of Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD) in child passengers aged 4-16 years following motor vehicle crashes (MVCs). Sequential paediatric attendances presenting to 3 urban Emergency Departments (EDs) in the North West of England conurbation after involvement as a passenger in a MVC were prospectively studied over an 8 month period (estimated 80,000 paediatric attendances) from May 1999 to January 2000. Some results are as follows: (a) 105 sequential attendances were identified during the study period; (b) The overall WAD incidence was 47% (49/105), and 60% (29/49) of the children were symptomatic on the day of presentation to the ED with 40% (20/49) becoming symptomatic the following day; (c) Those children aged 12 years or more had a statistically significant increased WAD incidence; and (d) The overall mean duration of symptoms for children with a WAD was 8.8 days.
Abstract