Objective Early childhood is a high-risk period for exposure to traumatic medical events due to injury/illness. It is also one of the most important and vulnerable periods due to rapid development in neurobiological systems, attachment relationships, cognitive and linguistic capacities, and emotion regulation. The aim of this topical review is to evaluate empirical literature on the psychological impact of medical trauma during early childhood (0–6 years) to inform models of clinical care for assessing, preventing, and treating traumatic stress following injury/illness. Methods Topical review of empirical and theoretical literature on pediatric medical traumatic stress (PMTS) during early childhood. Results There are important developmental factors that influence how infants and young children perceive and respond to medical events. The emerging literature indicates that up to 30% of young children experience PMTS within the first month of an acute illness/injury and between 3% and 10% develop posttraumatic stress disorder. However, significant knowledge gaps remain in our understanding of psychological outcomes for infants and young children, identification of risk-factors and availability of evidence-based interventions for medical trauma following illness. Conclusions This topical review on medical trauma during early childhood provides: (a) definitions of key medical trauma terminology, (b) discussion of important developmental considerations, (c) summary of the empirical literature on psychological outcomes, risk factors, and interventions, (d) introduction to a stepped-model-of-care framework to guide clinical practice, and (e) summary of limitations and directions for future research.

中文翻译：

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专题回顾：儿童早期的医疗创伤

目的 幼儿期是因受伤/疾病而遭受创伤性医疗事件的高风险时期。由于神经生物学系统、依恋关系、认知和语言能力以及情绪调节的快速发展，它也是最重要和最脆弱的时期之一。本专题综述的目的是评估关于儿童早期（0-6 岁）医疗创伤的心理影响的实证文献，为评估、预防和治疗受伤/疾病后创伤性压力的临床护理模型提供信息。方法 对儿童早期医学创伤应激 (PMTS) 的经验和理论文献进行专题回顾。结果 有一些重要的发育因素会影响婴幼儿对医疗事件的感知和反应。新出现的文献表明，多达 30% 的幼儿在急性疾病/损伤的第一个月内经历 PMTS，3% 到 10% 的儿童发展为创伤后应激障碍。然而，在我们对婴幼儿心理结果的理解、风险因素的识别以及病后医疗创伤的循证干预措施的可用性方面，仍然存在重大的知识差距。结论 这篇关于儿童早期医学创伤的专题综述提供了：(a) 关键医学创伤术语的定义，(b) 对重要发展考虑的讨论，(c) 关于心理结果、风险因素和干预措施的实证文献总结，( d) 引入阶梯式护理模型框架来指导临床实践，