AUTHOR=Gong Hairong , Lu Guoping , Ma Jian , Zheng Jicui , Hu Fei , Liu Jing , Song Jun , Hu Shenjie , Sun Libo , Chen Yang , Xie Li , Zhang Xiaobo , Duan Leilei , Xu Hong 

TITLE=Causes and Characteristics of Children Unintentional Injuries in Emergency Department and Its Implications for Prevention

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.669125

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2021.669125

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background: Child unintentional injuries have become a hot topic worldwide and substantial regional disparities existed in causes and characteristics. To date, limited data are available to investigated the causes and characteristics of child unintentional injuries from children's hospitals in China.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between Jan 2017 and Dec 2018 in Shanghai, China. Patients in whom aged <18 years with an unintentional injury presented to the emergency department were enrolled. Demographic information, Pediatric Risk for Mortality III score, and outcome variables were retrieved from electronic health records. Frequencies and proportions of categorical variables and means and standard deviations of continuous variables are presented. Chi-square test and Student's t-test were used for the comparison between groups, as appropriate. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate potential risk factors for admission in hospital. 
Results: A total of 29597 unintentional injuries cases were identified between Jan 2017 and Dec 2018, with male versus female ratio of 1.75. Preschool children account for approximately two-thirds of unintentional injuries in the emergency department. A distinctive pattern of mechanisms of unintentional injuries between gender was documented, with sports injury was significantly higher in males than females (10.2% vs. 7.8%). Compared with CTAS Grade 3 patients, Grade 2 (OR=2.99, 95%CI = 1.93-4.63, P<0.001) and Grade 1 (OR = 74.85, 95%CI = 12.93-433.14, P<0.001) patients had higher risk of in-hospital admission. For causes of injuries, compared with falling, foreign body and poison had lower risk of in-hospital admission; while transport injury (OR =1.31, 95%CI = 1.07-1.59, P=0.008) and high fall injury (OR = 2.58. 95%CI =1.48-4.49, P<0.001) had significantly higher risk of admission.
Conclusions: There was a significant relationship between age groups and unintentional injuries between gender, with decreased injuries among females growing up older. Preventive measures should be taken to reduce transport injury and high fall injury, which had a significantly higher risk of admission.