Unintentional InjuriesIn Children

By Todd Twogood MD, FAAP

1/3rd of our population

Our entire future

C. Everett Koop MD Former Surgeon General

1952 : 3,000 Americans died of Polio 20,000 people left paralyzed 1999 : 30,000 died from firearms ( 9 per

day) Greater than 3,300 involve children each

year most are unintentional 20,000 people each year are paralyzed

from gunshots

Accidents : implies that they are due to chance

Unintentional Injuries : characterizes the event as predictable and preventable if safety measures are implemented

Health is Years of Potential Life Lost

(YPLL)

5th leading cause of death overall

Unintentional Injuries is the leading cause of death in ages 1 – 18 years old (Hovert 2005)

Developmental or Genetic cause

SIDS

Prematurity

Accidents – Airway obstruction

Accidents – Drowning #1 , MVA’s #2

Developmental or Genetic cause

Cancer

Accidents

Cancer

Homicide

Accidents

Homicide

Suicide

40% reduction in deaths from unintentional injuries from 1987 - 2001

Still is the leading cause of death in children

About 6,000 kids die each year About 92,000 are permanently disabled Each year 14 million children sustain

injury warranting medical attention

14 billion in lifetime medical spending 1 billion in other resource cost 66 billion in present and future issues Medicaid and government source paid for

39% of all days spent in the hospital by children for unintentional injuries (Miller et al.)

MVA Firearms Drowning Fires Playground injuries Bicycle injuries Poisonings A whole lot more

Daily average of 4 deaths 602 injuries per day More than ½ killed were unrestrained 1 of 4 involve a drunk driver Among 5 y/o estimated 425 lives saved if

properly restrained Booster seats

1 out of 3 deaths among teens is from MVA

12 teens die each day because of MVA’s Teens are 14% of the population, but

30% of all MVA’s Estimated cost of this is 40.8 billion

dollars Lowest rate of seat belt use Drinking and drugs Who’s at risk?

Education

Graduated Driver’s Licenses (GDL) systems

Children 3 – 14 years old account for 21% of pedal cyclist killed in MVA’s

35 children each day are seriously harmed because of not wearing a helmet

Bike helmets are 85-88% effective in reducing head injury from crashes

Parents need to be responsible Legislation

Drowning is still one of the top causes of injury related death (10 deaths per day, 4 kids)

For every child that drowns, 4 ER visits occur (40% require hospitalization)

Consequences How do we prevent this

Greater than 200,000 children 14 and younger

45% are serious injuries

75% of non-fatal injuries are on public playgrounds

70% of fatal cases occur at home

Ingestions

52% of all poisonings occurred among children < 6 years old

Unintentional (72%) Undetermined (10%) Intentional (18%)

In North Dakota

Sad Statistics

Prevention

Antidepressants

Fireworks Cold weather Hot weather (Look before you leave) Farm safety ATV’s Hunting Lawn mowers Home safety

If some infectious disease came along [in the proportion that injuries do] , there would be an outcry and we would be told to spare no expense to find a cure and to be quick about it.

Be Safe