[Risk factors for the occurrence and severity of crush syndrome in pediatric trauma victims after earthquake].

Objective: To analyze the factors affecting the occurrence and severity of crush syndrome (CS) after crush injury (CI) in pediatric trauma victims in the Wenchuan earthquake.

Methods: Medical records of 98 patients who were transferred to our hospital were retrospectively reviewed. The risk factors, such as age, gender, time being besieged, type of injury, wound infection, hemodialysis, etc., which were assessed with T-test/chi(2)/Fisher's exact tests and logistic regression analysis for the occurrence of crush syndrome after crush injury. Possible risk factors influencing CS severity were analyzed.

Results: There were 15 patients with CS, and all these cases were from 59 patients with extremities crush injury. The incidence of CS reached 15.3% in pediatric trauma victims after earthquake and 25.4% in extremities crush injury. Six risk factors were assessed with logistic regression analysis for three outcomes relating to crush syndrome, they are age, time being szeged and closed CI, whose log-odds ratio (log-OR) respectively was 1.049, 1.221, and 0.068 (P < 0.05 for all). And no correlation was found between CS and gender, upper or lower limbs injury or wound infection. There was no significant difference in wounds infection rate between patients with open injury and those who underwent CS fasciotomy (P = 0.754), but there was significant difference between those patients who underwent CS fasciotomy and those who underwent other operative incisions (P < 0.05). Wound infection had a significant association with severity of CS (P = 0.041) as compared with other factors such as age, gender, and time being szeged.

Conclusion: The occurrence of crush syndrome is mainly because of extremities crush injury and also has significant relations with age, time being szeged and closed crush injury in children. Infection of incisional wound after CS fasciotomy is a risk factor for aggravation of CS.