Injuries to Children Exec Summary

Background and Rationale

Despite decreases in deaths from injuries since the 1990s, unintentional injuries remain the leading cause of death and hospitalization among Canadian children.1,2  There is a common belief that injuries are accidents over which we have little control, yet evidence suggests almost all injuries are preventable and predictable.1 This knowledge indicates the importance of efforts in public health to prevent childhood injuries. Local surveillance data on injuries are essential for evidence-based injury prevention and priority setting. Indeed, KFL&A Public Health is directed by the Ontario Public Health Standards 20083 to conduct active surveillance of local injury data. The purpose of this report is to describe patterns and characteristics of injury among 0- to 6- year-olds in the KFL&A area for the period from 2001 to 2005. These data were collected at the emergency departments in Kingston General Hospital (KGH) and Hotel Dieu Hospital (HDH) as part of the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP).

Results

A total of 6772 injuries to children aged 0-6 years were reported during the period from 2001 to 2005, equivalent to over three injuries per day. Over half (59%) of these injuries occurred in males.

Trends over time: The annual number of injuries decreased by 21.9% between 2001 and 2005; however, this trend may be indicative of limitations in data collection.

Age and Sex: In 2005, the highest rates of injuries per 1000 population occurred among 1- to 2-year-olds (122 injuries per 1000), followed by 3- to 4-year-olds (92 injuries per 1000), 5- to 6-year-olds (81 per 1000) and infants under one year (62 per 1000). More males than females were injured in all age groups.

Month, day and time of injury: For infants under 1 year, numbers of injuries were relatively evenly spread across the year, week and time of day. Among children aged between 1 and 6 years, more injuries occurred between May and September than during other months of the year, during weekends than on weekdays (only for age groups 1-2 and 3-4), and between 4 and 7 pm than other times of the day.

Cause of injury: Falls were the most common external cause of injury (56.7% of all injuries). Other common causes were collisions with objects (7.3%); foreign bodies in mouth, nose, ear or eye (6.4%); and being struck by another person or object (5.3%).

Type of injury: Among infants aged 0-1 year, the most common injury was a minor head injury (20% of all injuries in this age group). For children aged 1-6 years, open wounds were the most common type or consequence of injury.

Context and location of injury: Two-thirds of all injuries occurred in the child's own home or another house or apartment (65.8%). Most injuries occurred when children were playing, climbing or dancing (32.5%). Among older children (5-6 years), schools and public parks were also common locations for injuries.

Discussion and Implications for Practice

These results provide insights into the patterns of injury among infants and children in the KFL&A area. It should be noted these data do not include injuries treated at walk-in clinics, doctors' offices, community health centres or the HDH Children's Outpatient Clinic. Although most injuries described in this report may not have been severe, all required medical care.