The injury data on kidsdata.org includes hospital discharges for children and youth ages 0-20 whose injuries were severe enough to require hospitalization. This information can be viewed as a rate per 100,000 and as a number, by age and cause. Injuries are categorized either as unintentional (accidents) or intentional (such as self-inflicted injuries or assault). Injury hospitalizations exclude fatal injuries.
Unintentional injuries are more common than intentional injuries and are often preventable. Some unintentional injuries probably result from child abuse/neglect. Others, such as motor vehicle accidents, drowning, firearm accidents, bicycle and skateboarding accidents, and falls, often can be prevented by taking appropriate precautionary measures. Teens and young adults are more likely to die in motor vehicle accidents than from any other cause, highlighting the importance of education about safe driving practices and the risks of drinking and driving.
Most leading causes of injuries for children/youth ages 0-20 are preventable, and many can be addressed by public policies focused on safety. California already has a number of laws in place to strengthen injury prevention. (1) In addition, “school connectedness,” which refers to students feeling that they are treated fairly, close to people, and safe at school, has been shown to be among the strongest protective factors in decreasing the risk of unintentional injury from causes like drinking and driving or not wearing a seatbelt. (2)
According to research and subject experts, policies that could reduce injuries among children and youth include:
- Enforcing existing motor vehicle safety laws, including those concerning seat belts, car seats, and drunk driving (3)
- Preventing child abuse by promoting safe, stable, and nurturing relationships between caregivers and children through efforts such as home visiting programs, hospital-based education programs for new mothers, and comprehensive child development centers that provide resources for children and parents; and by addressing the social factors associated with child maltreatment (neighborhood economic stress, poverty, low parental education levels, etc.) (4)
- Providing routine and accessible mental health screening and services to youth to address depression and prevent youth self-harm (5, 6)
- Setting school policies that foster student connectedness with school (2)
For more policy ideas about injury prevention, see kidsdata.org's Research & Links section on this page or the California Injury Prevention Network and SafeKids USA. For more research to support policy on child abuse prevention, see the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Child Welfare Information Gateway. Also see Policy Implications on kidsdata.org under the topics School Connectedness, Suicide and Self-Inflicted Injury, Deaths, and Child Abuse.
Sources for this narrative:
- Sacramento Advocacy, Issues and Priorities – California Coalition for Children’s Health & Safety. (not available online)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2009). School Connectedness: Strategies for Increasing Protective Factors Among Youth. http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/adolescenthealth/pdf/connectedness.pdf
- Guide to Community Preventive Services. (2001). Recommendations to reduce injuries to motor vehicle occupants: Increasing child safety seat use, increasing safety belt use, and reducing alcohol-impaired driving. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK14104/
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2009). Preventing Child Maltreatment Through the Promotion of Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships Between Children and Caregivers. http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/CM_Strategic_Direction--Long-a.pdf
- TeenScreen National Center for Mental Health Check-ups at Columbia University, Research Studies of Note, http://www.teenscreen.org/library/research-studies-of-note
- Mann, et al. (2005). Suicide Prevention Strategies: A Systemic Review. (JAMA). http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/294/16/2064.short
In 2009, 31,572 children and youth ages 0-20 were hospitalized for injuries statewide. From 1993-2009, the rate of injury hospitalizations among children and youth ages 0-20 steadily decreased in California, dropping by 35.2% from 411.6 to 266.7 per 100,000. At the county level, the rate of injury hospitalizations ranged from 150.4 in Napa County to 460.0 in Mendocino County in 2009.
The number of unintentional injuries, which account for the majority of injury hospitalizations among children and youth, declined statewide from 31,798 in 1993 to 23,449 in 2009. The California rate of unintentional injury hospitalizations varies by age group, with the highest rates among youth ages 16-20 (262.3 per 100,000 in 2009) and the lowest among children ages 5-12 (132.6 in 2009). The intentional injury hospitalization rate also is highest among 16-to-20-year-olds (155.6 in 2009), followed by 13-to-15-year-olds (61.9) and infants under age 1 (31.1).