Advances in the prevention of children's injuries: an examination of four common outdoor activities

What is the Relationship between Risky Outdoor Play and Health in Children? A Systematic Review

Risky outdoor play has been associated with promoting children’s health and development, but also with injury and death. Risky outdoor play has diminished over time, concurrent with increasing concerns regarding child safety and emphasis on injury prevention. We sought to conduct a systematic review to examine the relationship between risky outdoor play and health in children, in order to inform the debate regarding its benefits and harms. We identified and evaluated 21 relevant papers for quality using the GRADE framework. Included articles addressed the effect on health indicators and behaviours from three types of risky play, as well as risky play supportive environments. The systematic review revealed overall positive effects of risky outdoor play on a variety of health indicators and behaviours, most commonly physical activity, but also social health and behaviours, injuries, and aggression. The review indicated the need for additional “good quality” studies; however, we note that even in the face of the generally exclusionary systematic review process, our findings support the promotion of risky outdoor play for healthy child development. These positive results with the marked reduction in risky outdoor play opportunities in recent generations indicate the need to encourage action to support children’s risky outdoor play opportunities. Policy and practice precedents and recommendations for action are discussed.

Handlebar injuries in children

INTRODUCTION

Handlebar injuries in children may lead to severe organ lesions despite minimal initial signs and without visible skin bruise. We present our experiences applying a diagnostic and therapeutic algorithm for blunt abdominal trauma, and present the history of two selected cases.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We retrospectively assessed the charts of children below 16 years of age, only who were observed for 24 h or more in our institution due to a handlebar injury between 2004 and 2011. All children were treated according to an institutional algorithm.

RESULTS

40 patients with a median age of 9.5 years were included. Diagnosed lesions were: ruptures of the liver (n = 6), spleen (n = 5), kidney (n = 1), and pancreas (n = 2), small bowel perforation (n = 3), and hernias of the abdominal (n = 2) or thoracic wall (n = 1). Surgical interventions were performed in 8 patients. The outcome was favorable in all the cases. Overall median hospitalization duration was 4.5 days (range 1-19 days). The overall duration between the accident and arrival at our emergency unit was 2.75 h (median, range 1-19 h). 20 children presented directly at our emergency unit after a median of 1.7 h (range 1-19.5 h). 20 children were referred by a family physician or a primary hospital after a median of 4.0 h (range 1-46 h).

CONCLUSION

Handlebar injuries in children resulted in serious trunk lesions in half of the present patient series. The spectrum of injuries in handlebar accidents varies widely, especially injuries to the abdomen can unmask often only in the course. We advocate close observation of patients with thoracic and abdominal handlebar injuries which may be regarded as blunt stab wounds. An institutional algorithm for blunt abdominal trauma management is supportive for emergency care in patients with handlebar injuries.

The value of the medical home for children without special health care needs

OBJECTIVE

Although the medical home is promoted by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Affordable Care Act, its impact on children without special health care needs is unknown. We examined whether the medical home is associated with beneficial health care utilization and health-promoting behaviors in this population.

METHODS

This study was a secondary data analysis of the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health. Data were available for 70 007 children without special health care needs. We operationalized the medical home according to the National Survey of Children's Health design. Logistic regression for complex sample surveys was used to model each outcome with the medical home, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics.

RESULTS

Overall, 58.1% of children without special health care needs had a medical home. The medical home was significantly associated with increased preventive care visits (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.32 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.22-1.43]), decreased outpatient sick visits (aOR: 0.71 [95% CI: 0.66-0.76), and decreased emergency department sick visits (aOR: 0.70 [95% CI: 0.65-0.76]). It was associated with increased odds of "excellent/very good" child health according to parental assessment (aOR: 1.29 [95% CI: 1.15-1.45) and health-promoting behaviors such as being read to daily (aOR: 1.46 [95% CI: 1.13-1.89]), reported helmet use (aOR: 1.18 [95% CI: 1.03-1.34]), and decreased screen time (aOR: 1.12 [95% CI: 1.02-1.22]).

CONCLUSIONS

For children without special health care needs, the medical home is associated with improved health care utilization patterns, better parental assessment of child health, and increased adherence with health-promoting behaviors. These findings support the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Affordable Care Act to extend the medical home to all children.

American Academy of Pediatrics. Policy statement--child fatality review

Injury remains the leading cause of pediatric mortality and requires public health approaches to reduce preventable deaths. Child fatality review teams, first established to review suspicious child deaths involving abuse or neglect, have expanded toward a public health model of prevention of child fatality through systematic review of child deaths from birth through adolescence. Approximately half of all states report reviewing child deaths from all causes, and the process of fatality review has identified effective local and state prevention strategies for reducing child deaths. This expanded approach can be a powerful tool in understanding the epidemiology and preventability of child death locally, regionally, and nationally; improving accuracy of vital statistics data; and identifying public health and legislative strategies for reducing preventable child fatalities. The American Academy of Pediatrics supports the development of federal and state legislation to enhance the child fatality review process and recommends that pediatricians become involved in local and state child death reviews.