Published online May 1, 2008
PEDIATRICS Vol. 121 No. 5 May 2008, pp. 930-937 (doi:10.1542/peds.2007-1731)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mack, K. A.
Right arrow Articles by Ballesteros, M. F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mack, K. A.
Right arrow Articles by Ballesteros, M. F.
Related Collections
Right arrow Emergency Medicine
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

ARTICLE

Injuries Among Infants Treated in Emergency Departments in the United States, 2001–2004

Karin A. Mack, PhD, Julie Gilchrist, MD and Michael F. Ballesteros, PhD

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

OBJECTIVE. The objective of this study was to present a detailed examination of unintentional injuries in infants ≤12 months of age treated in emergency departments.

METHODS. We conducted a retrospective analysis of data for infants ≤12 months of age from the National Electronic Surveillance System-All Injury Program for 2001–2004. Sample weights provided by the National Electronic Surveillance System-All Injury Program were used to make national estimates.

RESULTS. An estimated 1314000 injured infants were treated in US emergency departments for nonfatal unintentional injuries during the 4-year period of 2001–2004, ~1 infant every 1.5 minutes. Falls were the leading cause of nonfatal unintentional injuries for infants. Overall, the patients were more likely to be male (55.2%) than female (44.8%). Contusions/abrasions were the leading diagnosis overall (26.7%). Contusion/abrasion, laceration, hematoma, foreign-body, and puncture injuries occurred most frequently to the head or neck region. More than one third of fractures (37.2%) were to the arm or hand. Bed was the product most frequently noted as being involved in the injury event for every age except 2 and 12 months (car seat was the most frequently noted product at 2 months of age, and stairs were top ranked at 12 months). Product rank changed markedly as age increased.

CONCLUSIONS. The influences of the social environment, the physical environment, and products change as infants mature in the first year of life; this was substantiated in our study by the shift in the relative importance of products involved in injuries according to month of age. The concept that aspects of safety must adapt in anticipation of developmental stage is critical.

Key Words: unintentional injury • infants • falls

Abbreviations: NEISS-AIP—National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury Program • ED—emergency department • CI—confidence interval

Accepted Sep 6, 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?