| Summary: | Objective: To outline a profile of pediatric trauma victims and verifythe likelihood of trauma in children on a high traffic roadway. Methods: A descriptive cohort study of the records of emergency medical service activations on the Rio-Niterói Bridge, a high traffic roadway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Descriptive statistics were expressed as absolute and relative frequencies. The estimated risk of trauma in children aged < 12 years was calculated by means of odds ratios, with a 95% confidence interval. Results: Trauma accounted for 514 of 1,244 activations (41.31%) of the Rio-Niterói Bridge emergencymedical service between March 2002 and March 2003. Response to incidents involving children aged < 12 years accounted for 52 ofthese (4.18%). Half of victims were between the ages of 6 and 12years (n = 26), and 55.76% were male (n = 29). Of the 52 victims, 37(71.15%) were involved in motor vehicle accidents (OR: 3.70; 95%CI:1.94-7.13; p < 0.0001). Of these, 28 were vehicle–vehicle collisions(75.67%). The most common sites of injury were the extremities(n = 12; 32.43%), face (n = 10; 27.02%), and head (n = 9; 24.32%).Pre-hospital procedures were performed on 23 of the 37 patients(62.16%), and 44.23% (n = 23/52) required hospital transportation.There were no deaths during the study period. Conclusions: In thisstudy, children were at significantly higher odds of being treated fortrauma while on a highway with heavy traffic flow. The most commonsites of injury in this sample were the lower extremities and the head, face, and neck complex.
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