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Journal of Accident & Emergency Medicine logoLink to Journal of Accident & Emergency Medicine
. 1994 Mar;11(1):9–16. doi: 10.1136/emj.11.1.9

Epidemiology of paediatric injury.

A J Mazurek 1
PMCID: PMC1342368  PMID: 7921561

Abstract

Thousands of young lives are lost every year as a result of accidents, and trauma remains the number one cause of paediatric death. There is a pattern and regularity to children's injury: boys are more often victims than the girls, most injuries occur during the summer months, the pedestrian child has usually been the victim of a road traffic accident (RTA) and, in 75% of these cases, has suffered head injury. The research into paediatric trauma is still very young. For instance, socio-economic and ethnic factors play a significant role in the statistics of accidental death. In order to take effective preventative measures more factors must be determined.

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Selected References

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