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Childhood mortality from accidents in Israel, 1980-84
V Barell1, P Zadka, B Halperin
1Health Services Research Unit, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.
Insights
Accidental death rates were significantly higher for non-Jewish children in Israel compared to Jewish children. Targeted prevention programs are crucial for specific age, sex, and population groups.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Accidental injuries are a leading cause of death in children worldwide.
- Disparities in child mortality rates exist across different socioeconomic and ethnic groups.
- Understanding these disparities is essential for developing effective public health interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze accidental mortality rates among children aged 0-17 in Israel from 1980-1984.
- To compare these rates between Jewish and non-Jewish populations, considering age and sex differences.
- To identify leading causes of accidental death and inform targeted prevention strategies.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of child mortality data in Israel (1980-1984).
- Stratification of accidental death rates by ethnicity (Jewish vs. non-Jewish), age group, and sex.
- Calculation of mortality rates per 100,000 children for each subgroup.
Main Results:
- Non-Jewish children had a 2.6-fold higher accidental mortality rate (20.9/100,000) than Jewish children (7.9/100,000).
- Male children exhibited higher mortality rates than females in both groups.
- Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) were the leading cause of death (52.7% for Jews, 40.4% for non-Jews), with distinct age-peak patterns between groups. Drowning and falls were other significant causes.
- MVA injury rates were approximately ten times higher than mortality rates.
Conclusions:
- Significant disparities in child accidental mortality exist between Jewish and non-Jewish populations in Israel.
- Preventive interventions must be tailored to specific age, sex, and ethnic groups to address varying risk factors.
- Further research into pedestrian and MVA injury prevention for young non-Jewish children is warranted.
Abstract:
There were on average 1.5 million children aged 0-17 in Israel during the period 1980-84, with an average accidental mortality rate of 10.9/100,000. Although 77% of the children were Jewish and 23% non-Jewish, 45% of the accidental deaths occurred in the non-Jewish population. The accidental mortality rate among non-Jewish children was 20.9/100,000, which was 2.6-fold greater than that among Jewish children (7.9/100,000). Among both population groups, the male death rates were considerably higher than the female rates (10.5 vs. 5.1 among Jewish males and females, respectively, and 25.1 vs. 16.5 among non-Jewish children). The non-Jewish death rates were highest among infants less than 1 year of age, with females outnumbering males. Inspection of the male to female rate ratios showed a greater disparity between the sexes in both population groups as age increased. The proportion of motor vehicle accident (MVA) deaths was 52.7% among Jews and 40.4% among non-Jews. Drowning was the second ranking cause of accidental death (approximately 15%) in Israeli children, followed by falls (approximately 8%). The age distribution of MVA mortality was strikingly different in the two Israeli population groups. Among the Jews the rates peaked in the 15-17 age group in both sexes; however, among the non-Jews the rates peaked in the 1-4 age-group, with most of these deaths probably representing pedestrian deaths. On the average, the MVA serious injury rates were about ten times greater than the MVA mortality rates. Variations of mortality from accidents in different age, sex and population groups clearly indicate that preventive intervention programs must be targeted specifically to each age-sex-population group.