Background: Bladder and/or urethral injuries (BUIs) secondary to pelvic fractures are rare in children and are associated with a high morbidity. These injuries are much less likely to occur in females and are often missed in the emergency department. To help clinicians detect these injuries in female children, larger studies are needed to identify risk factors specific to this patient population. This study aimed to identify risk factors associated with BUI in female children with a pelvic fracture.
Methods: We reviewed the National Trauma Data Bank for females younger than 16 years who sustained a pelvic fracture from 2010 to 2012. Patients with penetrating injuries were excluded. Variables including patient characteristics, mechanism of injury, and type of pelvic fracture were selected for bivariate analysis. Variables with an association of p < 0.05 were then tested using binary logistic regression.
Results: Of the 149,091 females younger than 16 years in the National Trauma Data Bank, 2,639 patients (2%) with pelvic fractures were identified. The median patient age was 12 years (interquartile range [IQR], 7-14 years). BUI was identified in 81 patients (3%). Patients with BUI had a significantly higher median Injury Severity Score (ISS) (25 [IQR, 17-34] vs. 13 [IQR, 6-22], p < 0.001). Four variables were found to be independently associated with BUI in the logistic regression model: vaginal laceration (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 9.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.4-18.7), disruption of the pelvic circle (adjusted OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.6-5.6), multiple pelvic fractures (adjusted OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.3-3.9), and sacral spine injury (adjusted OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.0-2.6). In total, 62 patients (77%; 95% CI, 67-86%) with BUI had at least one of these findings.
Conclusion: Female children who sustained a pelvic fracture and have a vaginal laceration, disruption of the pelvic circle, multiple pelvic fractures, or a sacral spine injury seem to be at highest risk for BUI.
Level of evidence: Prognostic/epidemiologic study, level III.