A population-based study of nonfatal childhood injuries

A random-digit-dialing telephone survey was used to assess the frequency and associated characteristics of childhood poisoning, burns, and head injuries in 1,213 San Diego County households having at least one child 14 years of age or younger at the time of the telephone interview in 1980. The survey population was representative of the general San Diego County population with regard to socioeconomic status and geographic distribution. The frequency of injuries judged to be serious enough to require medical care and the median ages for each injury were head injury, 4.2% and 5.5 years; burns 4.0% and 2 years; and poisonings, 3.4% and 2 years. Forty-four percent of all poisonings were related to drugs, of which aspirin was the single most common medication. Hot liquids or hot surfaces were responsible for 52% of burns. The majority of head injuries (65%) were caused by falls, usually outside the home. Education was positively associated with poisonings, and income was negatively associated with burns. Children of caretakers working outside the home did not have higher injury rates than those whose caretakers were not so employed. Differences in caretaker attitudes were few, and may reflect the experience of having an injury, rather than factors preceding it. The advantages and limitations of this method of assessing childhood injury in populations are discussed.