• Wynne E Morrison, José J Arbelaez, James C Fackler, Antonio De Maio, and Charles N Paidas.
• University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
• Pediatr Crit Care Me. 2004 Mar 1;5(2):145-51.

ObjectiveTo evaluate whether girls have better outcomes after traumatic brain injury than boys.DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingUniversity hospital.PatientsA 16,586 patient subset of the National Pediatric Trauma Registry with nonpenetrating traumatic brain injury.InterventionsRetrospective review.Measurements And Main ResultsThe patients were subdivided by age into prepubertal (0-7 yrs), indeterminate pubertal (8-12 yrs), and probable pubertal (13-19 yrs). All analyses were adjusted for injury severity using the Injury Severity Score. Outcome variables were in-hospital death rate, intensive care unit length of stay, total length of stay, discharge to home vs. rehabilitation, and functional status at discharge. Overall, 6.1% of girls and 5.3% of boys died. A higher proportion of girls were injured in motor vehicle crashes. Gender did not have a significant effect on in-hospital mortality rate after adjustment for age, Injury Severity Score, and motor vehicle crashes. Boys had a shorter intensive care unit length of stay (p =.027). There were no statistically significant differences between boys and girls in total hospital length of stay, functional outcome, and discharge location, although for every outcome there was a trend toward girls doing worse.ConclusionsThere is evidence from this large study that girls do not have a better outcome after pediatric traumatic brain injury than boys, with a suggestion that girls may do worse.

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