Abstract
Objectives—This study describes 7813 childhood injuries in Shatin, Hong Kong. Supplementary analyses include developmental specificity of external causes and comparison with international childhood injury data.
Methods—Children aged 0–15 attending the accident and emergency (A&E) department of the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong were recruited for the study. Attendance records of participants from the A&E department were analyzed. Details concerning the injury, including the International Classification of Diseases, ninth revision, external cause of injury (E code), nature of injury (N code), abbreviated injury scale, and injury severity scale constitute core measurements, along with participants' age, gender, and respective A&E procedural data.
Results—Males (65.7%) and fall related injuries (44.2%) predominate, while contusion (34.6%) is the prevailing nature of injury. Two age external cause dimensions are derived from a correspondence analysis. Children 0–1 years old are associated with falls, poisoning, scalds, and machinery related injury. Adolescents aged 12–15 are associated with motor related injury, animal related injury, and cuts/piercings. In comparison with international data, unintentional child injuries in Hong Kong comprised more falls but fewer poisonings and burns.
Conclusion—A large proportion of falls, along with low proportion of poisonings and burns, are characteristics of childhood injury profile in Hong Kong. From the results of age external cause correspondence analysis, prevention strategies for different external cause should be developmentally specific.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (107.6 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Adesunkanmi A. R., Oginni L. M., Oyelami A. O., Badru O. S. Epidemiology of childhood injury. J Trauma. 1998 Mar;44(3):506–512. doi: 10.1097/00005373-199803000-00015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bangdiwala S. I., Anzola-Pérez E. The incidence of injuries in young people: II. Log-linear multivariable models for risk factors in a collaborative study in Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Venezuela. Int J Epidemiol. 1990 Mar;19(1):125–132. doi: 10.1093/ije/19.1.125. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bener A., el-Rufaie O. E., al-Suweidi N. E. Pediatric injuries in an Arabian Gulf country. Inj Prev. 1997 Sep;3(3):224–226. doi: 10.1136/ip.3.3.224. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Christoffel K. K., Scheidt P. C., Agran P. F., Kraus J. F., McLoughlin E., Paulson J. A. Standard definitions for childhood injury research: excerpts of a conference report. Pediatrics. 1992 Jun;89(6 Pt 1):1027–1034. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hillier L. M., Morrongiello B. A. Age and gender differences in school-age children's appraisals of injury risk. J Pediatr Psychol. 1998 Aug;23(4):229–238. doi: 10.1093/jpepsy/23.4.229. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Laflamme L., Eilert-Petersson E. Injuries to pre-school children in a home setting: patterns and related products. Acta Paediatr. 1998 Feb;87(2):206–211. doi: 10.1080/08035259850157688. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McLoughlin E., McGuire A. The causes, cost, and prevention of childhood burn injuries. Am J Dis Child. 1990 Jun;144(6):677–683. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1990.02150300075020. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Morrongiello B. A., Rennie H. Why do boys engage in more risk taking than girls? The role of attributions, beliefs, and risk appraisals. J Pediatr Psychol. 1998 Feb;23(1):33–43. doi: 10.1093/jpepsy/23.1.33. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Peterson L., Brown D. Integrating child injury and abuse-neglect research: common histories, etiologies, and solutions. Psychol Bull. 1994 Sep;116(2):293–315. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.116.2.293. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Peterson L., Saldana L. Accelerating children's risk for injury: mothers' decisions regarding common safety rules. J Behav Med. 1996 Aug;19(4):317–331. doi: 10.1007/BF01904759. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]