An Analysis of Outcomes and Interventions for Female Pediatric Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan

Abstract

Background: Traumatic injuries were the most common reason for admission of pediatric patients to military hospitals during the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We compare survival and interventions between female and male pediatric casualties. Materials and Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a previously described dataset from the Department of Defense Trauma Registry. We requested pediatric encounters from January 2007 to January 2016 within Iraq and Afghanistan. We separated casualties by sex to compare injury and mortality patterns. Results: Our initial dataset included 3439 pediatric encounters - 784 (22.8%) females and 2655 (77.2%) males. Females were less likely to sustain injuries by explosive (38.0% versus 44.5%) but more likely to sustain injuries via alternative mechanisms of injury (28.9% versus 21.5%). Both sexes had similar ISS (females median 10 [5-17], males 10 [4-17]). Fewer females underwent tourniquet application (4.2% versus 7.2%; all findings were significant). In unadjusted and adjusted regression analyses, females under age 8 had lower odds of survival to hospital discharge (OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.51-0.89) compared to males. Conclusions: Among pediatric patients treated by U.S. medical personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, females had a lower survival to hospital discharge despite similar severity of injury. Further studies are necessary to elucidate causes for this finding.