Abstract: Objective To study the types, characteristics and common complications as well as disability assessment for the children with craniocerebral injury in the road traffic accidents. Methods Data from 204 cases of children with cranio-injury in road traffic accidents were collected and were statistically analyzed according to the location injured, complication, the type of complication and the severity of disability． Results There were 64 cases of simple diffuse primary craniocerebral injury, 80 cases of simple local primary cranio-injury, 24 cases of diffuse secondary craniocerebral injury and 36 cases of local secondary cranio-injury. The main complications included traumatic epilepsy（14, 6.9％）, traumatic cerebral infarction（9, 4.4％）, traumatic hydrocephalus（7, 3.4％） and traumatic mental disorder（5, 2.5％）. Conclusion Among the children with cranio-injury due to road traffic accidents, simple primary cranio-injury was the most common result, whereas the traumatic epilepsy and traumatic cerebral infarction were the major types of complications. The assessment criteria for body impairment of the children with craniocerebral injury in the road traffic accidents should be broadened accordingly, with addition of certain specific items for children.

Key words: forensic medicine, accidents, traffic, craniocerebral trauma, child, assessment for body impairment