Objectives: It is estimated that nearly one million Americans suffer dog bite injuries each year, a number that has recently been reported to be increasing. A significant number of these injuries are sustained by children, many of whom typically present with more severe injuries than adults. The primary objective of this study is to identify the nature of dog bite injuries treated over a five-year period at a large tertiary pediatric hospital and to identify critical parameters for public education and injury prevention.
Methods: Investigators performed a retrospective review of emergency room records of a single tertiary pediatric hospital. Records of all pediatric patients who were evaluated for dog bite injuries sustained between April 2001 and December 2005 were reviewed. Demographic details, including the victim's age, breed of dog, anatomical location of injury, number of wounds, and relationship of patient to dog were recorded. All available medical details related to injuries were also abstracted.
Results: 499 patients aged 5 months to 18 years were treated in the emergency department records after suffering dog bite injuries during the study period. The majority of such injuries (63.1%) were sustained by male children. Dog bite injuries were most prevalent during the summer months of June and July. Grade school-aged children (6-12 years) were the group most likely to have suffered such injuries (51.7% of all patients), followed by preschoolers (2-5 years; 24.1%), teenagers (13-18 years; 20%), and infants (birth-1 year; 4.2%). Infants and preschoolers were more likely to have sustained bite injuries to the face, whereas older children more often suffered bites to the extremities. Hospitalization was required for 21 patients (4.2%). More than 25 different offending breeds were documented in the medical records. Of those cases for which a breed was recorded, however, the overwhelming majority (73.14%) were caused by pit bull terriers, rottweilers, German shepherds, or mixes of these breeds, the majority of dogs (68.14%) being familiar to their victims.
Conclusions: Pediatric dog bites are preventable injuries, yet they persist as a prevalent public health problem. Evaluation of data from high-volume tertiary pediatric health care institutions identifies predictable patterns of injury with respect to patient age and gender, animal breed, provocation, and seasonality. Such will allow for the development of more effective prevention strategies, including programs for community outreach and education.