Injuries are among the leading causes of death and disability in the world and constitute a world-wide health problem. Injuries affect mostly young people. In the Netherlands, the highest number of injuries requiring medical treatment per year per 1000 persons has been evaluated for children and young adults. Severe and fatal injuries are particularly associated with traffic accidents. This thesis focuses on children injured in traffic accidents. The impact of traffic accidents on children has long been illustrated by mortality statistics. Mortality reflects the seriousness of the incident and fatalities are often well documented. In high-income countries, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death in children aged 5-14 years, and in adolescents and adults aged 15-44 years. However, a far larger group of children survive their injuries. According to recent estimates in the Netherlands, almost 150,000 traffic victims aged 0-24 years receive medical treatment annually. To characterize the impact of traffic incidents in children more accurately, the outcomes of non-fatally injured children also needs to be addressed. The consequences of the injuries suffered by these children and their parents, siblings and extended family members are not yet fully known. A better understanding of the nonfatal outcomes is essential in order to provide the appropriate care and information for the patients and their families. Furthermore, insight into these outcomes is also important for policy makers who may need to compare traffic injuries with other health problems in order to choose priorities. This thesis aims to extend the limited knowledge concerning the nonfatal outcomes of pediatric traffic injuries. This introductory chapter begins with a review of the literature in order to provide insight into current understanding of the nonfatal outcomes of childhood injuries, including traffic injuries. Furthermore, the problems and current limitations of our knowledge that still have to be addressed by further studies are highlighted and the objectives and outline are presented. (Author/publisher)
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