Published online March 1, 2006
PEDIATRICS Vol. 117 No. 3 March 2006, pp. e374-e379 (doi:10.1542/10.1542/peds.2005-1451)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Schalamon, J.
Right arrow Articles by Höllwarth, M. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Schalamon, J.
Right arrow Articles by Höllwarth, M. E.
Related Collections
Right arrow Office Practice
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Analysis of Dog Bites in Children Who Are Younger Than 17 Years

Johannes Schalamon, MD, Herwig Ainoedhofer, Georg Singer, MD, Thomas Petnehazy, MD, Johannes Mayr, MD, PhD, Katalin Kiss, MD and Michael E. Höllwarth, MD, PhD

Department of Pediatric Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

OBJECTIVES. This study focuses on the pattern of incidence, mechanisms, and circumstances of accident and injury in a series of pediatric patients who sustained dog bites.

METHODS. In our retrospective survey, the medical charts of all children who were younger than 17 years and sought medical attention after a dog bite between 1994 and 2003 were reviewed. To obtain the total number of each dog breed in the administrative district, we analyzed 5873 files from the community dog registers. For establishment of a risk index, the representation of a dog breed among the total canine population was divided by the frequency of dog bites from this breed.

RESULTS. A total of 341 children (mean age: 5.9 years) were identified. The annual incidence of dog bites was 0.5 per 1000 children between 0 and 16 years of age. Incidence was highest in 1-year-old patients and decreased with increasing age. The relative risk for a dog attack by a German shepherd or a Doberman was ~5 times higher than that of a Labrador/retriever or cross-breed. The vast majority (82%) of the dogs were familiar to the children. Most (322; 94%) of the children had injuries to 1 body region; in the remaining 19 (6%) children, up to 3 body regions were injured. Of 357 injuries, the face, head, and neck region was the leading site affected (50%). Inpatient treatment was required in 93 (27%) patients.

CONCLUSIONS. Dog bites in children are frequent and influenced by the breed-related behavior of dogs, dog owners, children, and parents. Therefore, prevention strategies should focus on public education and training of dogs and their owners. Children who are younger than 10 years represent the high-risk group for dog attacks.

Key Words: child safety • dog bites • epidemiology • prevention

Accepted Sep 26, 2005.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 CLIN PEDIATRHome page
N. Kannikeswaran and D. Kamat
Mammalian Bites
Clinical Pediatrics, March 1, 2009; 48(2): 145 - 148.
[PDF]