Unintentional injuries among primary and middle school students in Maanshan City, eastern China

High prevalence of unintentional injuries and socio-psychological correlates among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste

OBJECTIVES

The study aimed to report on the prevalence and socio-psychological correlates of non-fatal injury among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste.

METHODS

Cross-sectional data from the 2015 Timor-Leste "Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS)" included 3,704 school children (median age 16 years, interquartile range 3) that were representative of all students in secondary school, excluding grade 12.

RESULTS

The proportion of participants with one or multiple serious injuries in the past year was 70.0% (40.6% once, 17.2% two-three times and 12.2% 4-12 times). The most frequent cause of the reported injury were "I fell" (33.8%) and motor vehicle (10.2%) and the most common type of injury was "a broken bone or dislocated joint" (7.8%) and "cut, puncture or stab wound" (6.7%). In adjusted multinomial logistic regression analysis, suicide attempt was associated with one injury, and truancy was associated with both one and multiple injury. Current tobacco use, lifetime cannabis use, soft drink consumption, and loneliness were associated with multiple injuries.

CONCLUSIONS

Several variables were identified that could be targeted in injury prevention programmes in this school population.

Unintentional injuries and socio-psychological correlates among school-going adolescents in four ASEAN countries

Objectives: The study aimed to report the prevalence and socio-psychological correlates of non-fatal injury among school adolescents in four ASEAN countries. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional research data from the 2015 "Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS)" included 29,480 school adolescents (mean age 14.5 years, standard deviation=1.6) that were representative of all students in secondary school. Results: The proportion of participants with one or multiple serious past-year injuries was 36.9% (21.4% once and 15.4% multiple times). The most frequent cause of the reported injury was "I fell" (10.2%) and motor vehicle (5.8%) and the most common form of injury was "a broken bone or dislocated joint" (8.1%) and "cut, puncture or stab wound" (3.4%). In adjusted multinomial logistic regression analysis, male sex, experiencing hunger, substance use (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, amphetamine and soft drinks), school truancy, participating in physical education classes and psychological distress were associated with one and/or multiple injuries. Parental or guardian support decreased the odds of one annual injury. Compared to students from Indonesia, students from Laos had a lower odd for injury and students from the Philippines and Thailand had higher odds for injury. Conclusion: Several variables, such as male sex, food insecurity, substance use, truancy, physical education and psychological distress, were identified that could be targeted in injury prevention programs in this school population.

Incidence and outcomes of school-based injuries during four academic years in Kocaeli, Turkey

BACKGROUND

School-based injuries are an important public health problem. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence as well as outcomes of school-based injuries at a public primary and secondary school.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study involved 2956 students enrolled at a public primary and secondary school in the central district of Kocaeli province in Turkey from the academic year 2010-2011 to 2013-2014. The data were collected by intern public health nurses at school health units using a school-based injury form.

RESULTS

The total incidence of school-based injuries during 4 academic years was 10.52% person-year. The majority of the injured students were aged 10-15 years (73.3%), and boys (65%). Around one-tenth of the injuries were serious, such as burn, fracture-dislocation and soft-tissue injuries. Outdoor injuries were more prevalent for girls while boys had more indoor injuries (50.5%, 53.0%, P > 0.05). The number of the incidence of ≥two injuries increased as the academic year progressed, and there was a weak positive association between the variables (P < 0.05, Cramer's V = 0.311). One out of six injuries were intentional, with the highest incidence in the 6-9 year age group (20.5%) and boys sex (19.8%; P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

School-based injuries at primary and secondary school still challenge the health as well as the security of the students. © 2016 Japan Pediatric Society.

Unintentional Injuries and Psychosocial Correlates among in-School Adolescents in Malaysia

The study aimed to provide estimates of the prevalence and psychosocial correlates of unintentional injury among school-going adolescents in Malaysia. Cross-sectional data from the Global School-Based Health Survey (GSHS) included 21,699 students (predominantly ≤13 to ≥17 years) that were selected by a two-stage cluster sample design to represent all secondary school students in Forms 1 to 5. The percentage of school children reporting one or more serious injuries in the past year was 34.9%, 42.1% of boys and 27.8% of girls. The two major causes of the most serious injury were “fall” (9.9%) and motor vehicle accident or being hit by a motor vehicle (5.4%), and the most frequent type of injury sustained was cut, puncture, or stab wound (6.2%) and a broken bone or dislocated joint (4.2%). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, sociodemographic factors (being male and low socioeconomic status), substance use (tobacco and cannabis use), frequent soft drink consumption, attending physical education classes three or more times a week, other risky behavior (truancy, ever having had sex, being bullied), psychological distress, and lack of parental or guardian bonding were associated with annual injury prevalence. Several factors were identified, which could be included in injury prevention promotion programs among secondary school children.

School environment and school injuries

Background: Although injuries at school are an important issue in public health, environmental factors in schools and school yards have seldom been the focus of school injury research. The goal of our investigation was to examine the effect of environmental factors on school injuries.

Methods: Nine comprehensive Finnish schools registered school injuries over a period of two school years. Injuries were classified as being associated with environmental factors, suspected environmental factors, and others. The consensus between two independent classifiers was 81%.

Results: A total of 722 injuries were classified. In 11.6% of these injuries, the physical environment factor was evident, and in 28.1% of the injuries, physical environment was suspected of being a contributory risk factor. Thus the physical environment of the school was a contributing factor in over a third (39.7%) of injuries occurring in the school, on the school yard or during the journey to, or from school. In this study, conducted in Finland, ice on the ground was mentioned most frequently as an environmental risk factor.

Conclusion: In Finland, the Nordic weather conditions are not taken into account in the school yard and playground plans as they ought to from the safety point of view. An initiative has been launched on a mandatory wintertime master plan for every school yard.

Status and risk factors of unintentional injuries among Chinese undergraduates: a cross-sectional study

Background

Injuries affect all age groups but have a particular impact on young people. To evaluate the incidence of non-fatal, unintentional, injuries among undergraduates in Wenzhou, China, assess the burden caused by these injuries, and explore the associated risk factors for unintentional injuries among these undergraduates, we conducted a college-based cross-sectional study.

Methods

Participants were selected by a multi-stage random sampling method, and 2,287 students were asked whether they had had an injury in the last 12 months; the location, cause, and consequences of the event. The questionnaire included demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, lifestyle habits, and the scale of type A behaviour pattern (TABP). Multivariate logistic regression models were used; crude odds ratios (ORs), adjusted ORs and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated, with students having no injuries as the reference group.

Results

The incidence of injuries among undergraduates in Wenzhou was 18.71 injuries per 100 person-years (95%CI: 17.12~20.31 injuries per 100 person-years). Falls were the leading cause of injury, followed by traffic injuries, and animal/insect bites. Male students were more likely to be injured than female students. Risk factors associated with unintentional injuries among undergraduates were: students majoring in non-medicine (adjusted OR: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.19-1.96); type A behaviour pattern (adjusted OR: 2.99; 95% CI: 1.45-6.14); liking sports (adjusted OR: 1.86; 95% CI: 1.41-2.45).

Conclusions

Injuries have become a public health problem among undergraduates. Falls were the major cause of non-fatal injury. Therefore, individuals, families, schools and governments should promptly adopt preventive measures aimed at preventing and controlling morbidity due to non-fatal injury, especially among students identified to be at high-risk; such as male students with type A behaviour pattern who like sports.

Does living density matter for nonfatal unintentional home injury in Asian urban settings? Evidence from Hong Kong

Injury is a major global disease burden for the twenty-first century. There are, however, few studies of unintentional household injury in Asian urban settings where living environments are characterized by extremely compact, high-living-density, multistory apartments. This study investigated the association between nonfatal unintentional household injuries with the resident's sociodemographic attributes and household characteristics in Hong Kong, the city with the world's highest population density. A cross-sectional retrospective recall study was conducted in May 2007 using a random telephone survey with a modified Chinese version of the World Health Organization Injury and Violence instrument. The study sample included 1,001 noninstitutionalized Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong residents of all ages, including foreign live-in domestic helpers. Multivariate regression was conducted to identify risk factors for nonfatal unintentional injuries in Hong Kong. Among a predominantly adult sample, household size and time spent at home were not associated with nonfatal unintentional household injuries in the general population in Hong Kong. The multivariate analyses indicated that female gender, owners of private homes, lower square footage of living space per person, and those with slip prevention devices in the bathroom were significantly associated with household injuries. Injured and noninjured groups were found to have adopted different injury prevention strategies toward household injuries. The results identified potential target groups for household injury prevention programs.