Related Experiment Videos
[Accident prevention in early childhood]
1Chirurgicales d'enfants au CHUV et à l'Hôpital de l'Enfance, Service de chirurgie pédiatrique, CHUV, 1011 Lausanne. olivier.reinberg@chuv.hospvd.ch
Insights
Childhood accidents are a leading cause of death, illness, and hospitalization, with significant economic impact. Understanding injury mechanisms is crucial for developing effective, localized prevention strategies.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric injury epidemiology
- Public health surveillance
- Accident prevention research
Context:
- Accidents are the primary cause of mortality and morbidity in children and adolescents.
- Hospitalization due to injuries incurs substantial economic costs.
- Injury mechanisms vary geographically and over time, necessitating local data.
Purpose:
- To establish a prospective database for childhood and adolescent injuries (ages 0-16) in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.
- To analyze the circumstances surrounding over 28,000 recorded injury cases from 1990-1999.
- To identify effective injury prevention programs for domestic, playground, and traffic-related incidents.
Summary:
- A prospective injury database recorded over 28,000 cases of children and adolescents (0-16 years) in Vaud, Switzerland, between 1990 and 1999.
- Analysis focused on domestic, playground, and traffic accidents, identifying common injury scenarios for infants and young children.
- The study emphasizes that predictable injury mechanisms, informed by local data, are key to preventing fatalities.
Impact:
- Provides critical epidemiological data on childhood injuries in a specific region.
- Highlights the importance of localized injury surveillance and targeted prevention strategies.
- Informs public health policy and interventions aimed at reducing childhood morbidity and mortality from accidents.
Abstract:
Accidents are the first cause of mortality and morbidity in children and adolescents of both sexes as from their first month of life. Also they are the first cause of hospitalization and thus have an important economical impact. The knowledge of the mechanisms of injury can neither be transposed from a place to another nor be extrapolated with time. For this reason we developed in 1989 a prospective data base for injuries of children and adolescents from 0 to 16 years of age occurring in our state (canton de Vaud, Switzerland). From Jan 1st, 1990 to Dec 31st, 1999, we recorded more than 28,000 cases. Infants and young children are involved in domestic injuries, accidents on playgrounds and in traffic accidents being pedestrians or passengers. We analyze the circumstances of accidents and point out their prevention programs and their efficiency. We try to demonstrate why children injuries are not fatalities but depend on mechanisms which can be predicted inarticular by an adequate information.