Accidental pediatric death: a ten year retrospective cohort

Accidental death is the leading manner of pediatric death worldwide. In Canada, this phenomenon has been explored in-depth in select provinces however published assessments of accidental pediatric death in the province of Newfoundland & Labrador (NL) remain limited.

A retrospective cohort study of cases of accidental death in children and youth aged 0- to 21- years that occurred between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2013 and referred to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) of NL was carried out. Comparison was made between accidental death in NL and the provinces of New Brunswick (NB) and Manitoba (MB) matching ages and years of occurrence.

A total of 139 cases occurred with a mean age of 15.8 (+/-4.9) years. Males accounted for more cases than females (p < 0.001). Leading cause of death was mechanical trauma due to a motor vehicle collision (MVC) (52%). Among all causes of death statistical significance was present (p < 0.001). Within NL regional differences were present with the highest incidence of all accidental death occurring in the Labrador Grenfell Health region (p = 0.002). When comparing NL to MB, rates of accidents were comparable. More differences were seen when comparing to NB regarding specific causes of death, and sexes.

Accident incidence differed significantly between NL provincial regions with rural areas manifesting more accidents per capita than urban areas. NL data was similar to MB and lower than NB in overall accidental death, cause specific death and among sexes.