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Childhood injury prevention at home and play
1Division of Emergency Medicine, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri 64108, USA.
Insights
Unintentional injuries in children are a major cause of death and disability. This review examines non-motor vehicle injury prevention strategies and recent epidemiologic findings on risk factors.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric injury prevention
- Public health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death and disability for US children and adolescents.
- While motor vehicle-related childhood deaths have decreased, firearm-related deaths have risen.
- Home and play environments are common settings for childhood injuries, excluding motor vehicle incidents.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review non-motor vehicle injury categories in children.
- To highlight successful community- and practice-based injury prevention programs.
- To discuss recent epidemiologic studies on injury-related death risk factors.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of epidemiologic studies and prevention programs.
- Focus on injury categories beyond motor vehicle incidents.
- Analysis of risk factors for fatal injuries.
Main Results:
- Significant reductions in motor vehicle-related childhood deaths have been observed.
- Increases in childhood deaths from other causes, such as firearms, are noted.
- Successful community and practice-based prevention programs exist for various injury types.
Conclusions:
- Non-motor vehicle injuries represent a critical area for public health intervention.
- Epidemiologic data and successful programs offer pathways for reducing childhood injury burden.
- Continued focus on diverse injury prevention strategies is essential for child safety.
Abstract:
Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States, and they create a significant burden of disability and financial cost. If motor vehicle-associated injuries are not considered, children are most commonly injured in their home and play environments. The reduction over the past 20 years in childhood deaths related to motor vehicle injury has been significant, but rates of childhood death due to other causes, such as firearms, have increased. This review focuses on several categories of injuries other than motor vehicle injuries and highlights a few recent successful community- and practice-based injury-prevention programs. In addition, recent epidemiologic studies describing risk factors for injury-related death are discussed. Injuries due to interpersonal violence and motor vehicles are covered elsewhere.