Children assessed for possible cervical spine injury with no prior imaging (n=973): demographics, mechanism of injury, imaging and outcomes
| n | % | ||
| Sex | Male | 643 | 66.1 |
| Female | 330 | 33.9 | |
| Age (years) | Median (25th, 75th percentile) | 10.9 (7.1, 13.6) | |
| Range | 0.01–15.99 | ||
| Under 8 (under 2) | 295 (46) | 30.3 (4.7) | |
| Mode of arrival | Self-referred | 183 | 18.8 |
| GP without ambulance | 18 | 1.8 | |
| Ambulance | 709 | 72.9 | |
| Primary retrieval | 30 | 3.1 | |
| Interhospital transfer | 31 | 3.2 | |
| Other | 2 | 0.2 | |
| Australasian Triage Scale | 1 | 93 | 9.6 |
| 2 | 505 | 51.9 | |
| 3 | 277 | 28.5 | |
| 4 | 97 | 10.0 | |
| 5 | 1 | 0.1 | |
| Mechanism | |||
| Motor vehicle related | 206 | 21.2 | |
| Motor vehicle occupant | 100 | 48.5 | |
| Pedestrian/cyclist hit by car | 67 | 32.5 | |
| Driver/passenger in motorbike accident, all terrain vehicle or motorised scooter | 35 | 17.0 | |
| Other | 4 | 1.9 | |
| Fall | 530 | 54.5 | |
| <1 m | 232 | 43.8 | |
| 1–3 m | 229 | 43.2 | |
| >3 m | 44 | 8.3 | |
| Unknown | 25 | 4.7 | |
| Imaging | |||
| Any modality | 396 | 40.7 | |
| XR | 315 | 32.4 | |
| CT | 130 | 13.4 | |
| MRI | 29 | 3.0 | |
| Multiple modalities | |||
| XR+CT | 44 | 4.5 | |
| XR+MRI | 10 | 1.0 | |
| CT+MRI | 10 | 1.0 | |
| XR+CT+MRI | 7 | 0.7 | |
| First-line investigations | n=396 | ||
| XR* | 307 | 77.3 | |
| CT | 87 | 22.0 | |
| MRI | 2 | 0.5 | |
| Outcomes | |||
| Cervical spine injuries | 5 | 0.5 | |
| Deaths | 4 | 0.4 | |
| Intensive care admissions | 27 | 2.8 |
*The eight children who received XR but not as first-line investigations all had flexion extension views.
XR, plain X-ray films.