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Child injury in Brisbane South 1985-91: implications for future injury surveillance
W R Pitt1, K P Balanda, J Nixon
1Mater Misericordiae Children's Hospital, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Insights
Childhood injuries in Brisbane South show falls are the most common cause of hospital admissions. Injury surveillance data highlight regional variations and an unexplained decrease in head injuries, necessitating improved data collection methods.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
- Injury Prevention
Background:
- Childhood injuries pose a significant public health concern, necessitating detailed surveillance to understand incidence and risk factors.
- Existing data on childhood injury patterns in Australia are limited, particularly regarding specific injury types, mechanisms, and locations.
- Effective injury prevention strategies rely on accurate, up-to-date epidemiological data.
Purpose of the Study:
- To rank specific childhood injury types by occurrence rate for mortality, hospital admission, and emergency department attendance.
- To analyze injury data from a defined population (Brisbane South, children aged 0-13 years) over a six-year period.
- To identify trends and variations in childhood injury risk within Australia.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 47,244 injuries, 7056 admissions, and 99 deaths from the resident population of Brisbane South (July 1985-June 1991).
- Calculation of overall mortality, admission, and emergency department attendance rates per 100,000 population per year.
- Identification of common injury mechanisms and injury locations.
Main Results:
- The overall childhood injury mortality rate was 12.6/100,000, admission rate was 911/100,000, and attendance rate was 6013/100,000.
- Falls were the most frequent injury mechanism leading to hospital admission.
- Sixty-five percent of emergency department attendances involved injuries occurring in the child's home.
Conclusions:
- Childhood injury surveillance data reveal regional variations in risk within Australia.
- An unexplained downward trend in head injuries warrants further investigation.
- Simplified, integrated coding systems are needed for future injury surveillance in Australia.
Abstract:
Specific childhood injury types are ranked by occurrence rate for mortality, hospital admission and emergency department attendance. Cases are drawn from the resident population of Brisbane South, 0-13 years of age, for the period 1 July 1985 to 30 June 1991. A total of 47,244 injuries, 7056 admissions and 99 deaths were analysed. The overall mortality rate was 12.6/100,000 per year (95% confidence interval (CI), 10.2-15.3), the overall admission rate was 911/100,000 per year (95% CI, 890-932) and the overall hospital attendance rate was 6013/100,000 per year (95% CI, 5958-6067). A fall was the most frequent injury mechanism for admissions and 65% of attendances involved injury in the child's own home. The surveillance data establish regional variation for childhood injury risk within Australia and identify an unexplained downward trend in head injury that requires further investigation. The future development of injury surveillance in Australia requires simplified coding which can be integrated into new computerized patient management information systems.