Earthquakes rank among the most deadly natural disasters, and children are particularly affected due to their inherent vulnerability. Following an earthquake, there is a substantial increase in visits to emergency services. These visits stem not only from patients seeking care for physical traumas resulting from the earthquake and its subsequent complications, but also from individuals affected by the circumstances created by the disaster.

This study aims to determine the characteristics and outcomes of children who presented to the pediatric emergency department (PED) after the earthquake and to evaluate children who had crush injuries at a referral tertiary university hospital away from the earthquake area.

The medical records of children who presented to the PED from the earthquake area from February 6 through March 7, 2023 were retrospectively reviewed. Children rescued from under rubble were categorized as Group 1, those affected by earthquake conditions as Group 2, and patients seeking medical attention due to the follow-up of chronic illnesses were considered as Group 3. Patient data, including sociodemographic characteristics, time period under rubble (TPR), laboratory findings, and details of medical and surgical procedures, developing acute kidney injury (AKI), and the requirement for hemodialysis were recorded.

A total of 252 children were enrolled in the study, with 52 (20.6%) in Group 1, 180 (71.4%) in Group 2, and 16 (6.0%) in Group 3. The median age was six (IQR = 1.7-12.1) years. In the first group (n = 52), 46 (85.2%) children experienced crush injuries, 25 children (46.3%) developed crush syndrome, and 14 of them (14/25; 56.0%) required dialysis. In the second group, the most common diagnoses were upper respiratory tract infections (n = 69; 37.9%), acute gastroenteritis (n = 23; 12.6%), simple physical trauma (n = 16; 8.8%), and lower respiratory tract infections (n = 13; 7.1%). For children in the third group, pediatric neurology (n = 5; 33.3%), pediatric oncology (n = 4; 25.0%), and pediatric nephrology (n = 3; 18.8%) were the most frequently referred specialties.

Crush injuries, crush syndrome, and AKI were the most common problems in the early days following the earthquake. Along with these patients, children who were affected by the environmental conditions caused by the earthquake, as well as children with chronic illnesses, also accounted for a significant portion of visits to the PED, even if they were distant from the disaster area.

Triage of injured children poses a significant challenge for prehospital-care providers because there is no single trauma triage tool in use that has been developed specifically for children. The pediatric trauma score (PTS) probably is the single most studied and tested trauma triage tool developed solely for the pediatric population, and is an effective predictor of both severity of injury and potential mortality in injured children. However, the pediatric trauma score has been found to be an ineffective prehospital triage tool because it is not “user friendly” for field personnel. As such, the PTS has been modified to generate the more user-friendly ”pediatric trauma triage checklist (PTTC).”

This study retrospectively reviewed 106 prehospital run reports to determine whether the patient met one or more of the criteria in the PTTC. By applying the MacKenzie algorithm to outcome data for each case, it was possible to determine whether the patient should have been sent to a trauma center.

The PTTC demonstrated a sensitivity of 86.2%, a specificity of 41.6%, and an accuracy of 66.0%. The PTTC demonstrate an overtriage rate of 58.3% and an under-triage rate of 13.8%. When compared with a previous study, the PTTC demonstrated a 74 % increase in overtriage. However, the 59% reduction in undertriage is more important.

Use of the PTTC appears to have merit as a pediatric prehospital trauma triage tool but further study is recommended. The PTTC should be tested in a prospective, multiregional study involving a sample size sufficient to reach statistical significance.