Injuries in Children in Denmark

- A registerbased analysis

Unintentional injuries are among the major health problems in childhood. Approximately fifty Danish children aged 0-14 years lose their lives due to unintentional injuries, and from age 1 year injuries are the most frequent cause of death among children, and make up one third of all deaths among children aged 1-14 years. Nevertheless, the number of fatal injuries has decreased considerably since the 1970s. 

 

Further, injuries are the most frequent reason for hospital contact in childhood. There are in Denmark approx. 170.000 emergency department visits each year, and 6000 children are admitted to hospital. This means that a child will typically have 2-3 emergency department visits before the age of 15 years. In the present report, the circumstances of the injuries will be described in order to explore the causes of childhood injuries and the possibilities to prevent them. 

 

Most childhood injuries occur in the home, especially among infants and toddlers. Among the older children many injuries occur at day-care or school. Injuries in children above 10 years of age most frequently occur during sports, and there is an increasing share of traffic injuries. 

 

The injury risk is highest at ages 1-3 years and 11- 13 years. Infants under 1 year have the lowest frequency of emergency department contacts due to injuries. Boys had a higher injury risk than girls, especially for injuries causing admission or death. The incidence rate of emergency department contacts due to unintentional injuries has decreased slightly since 1990. This decrease may partly be due to access restrictions at the emergency departments. There has been a decrease in hospital admissions since 1995, especially for bicycle and pedestrian injuries. 

 

Well over half of the fatal injuries during the period 1995-2000 were traffic injuries. A third of these were as car occupant, on bicycle, and as pedestrian, respectively. Second was drowning with seven fatalities a year, mostly in garden pools, lakes and ponds. Third was suffocation with six fatalities yearly, most often with food, bed or perambulators. Four children died due to fires.

 

The injury risk is unevenly distributed. Children with young mothers or parents with a short education have a 20-50% higher risk of emergency department visit compared to the average child. Among these children, there is an ncreased risk of injury in a car crash, and of burns and poisoning. Children with lone mothers also have an increased risk of these injuries. Children whose mothers were born outside Denmark are not more frequently at the emergency department compared to other children, but they suffer from other injuries. They have more burns and poisonings and much fewer sports injuries and other injuries due to outdoor activities.