This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

W. Thomas Boyce, MD; Sue Sobolewski, RN, MPH

Am J Dis Child. 1989;143(3):338-342.

Abstract
• Past work identifying "accident-prone" children with disproportionate rates of injury has been based on clinical data gathered in office, clinic, or emergency department settings. To avoid the biases inherent in such designs, we studied recurrent injuries in a school district population, utilizing a prospective surveillance system to identify injuries meeting standardized criteria. During three school years we observed 54 874 students, ranging in age from 6 to 18 years, for recurrent injuries, which were defined as those occurring in a year in which two or more injuries were reported for the child. Five hundred seventy-three recurrently injured children (1% of the school district population) sustained 1405 injuries (17% of the overall injury experience), a proportion significantly but only slightly greater than that expected on the basis of chance alone (14%). Most recurrently injured children were injured in only a single year, with only 15 children sustaining injuries in all three study years. Age, sex, and type of school were significant correlates of recurrent injury rates, with junior high school students, boys, and students attending schools with alternative educational programs having the highest rates of injury recurrence. The findings indicate that (1) a small group of schoolchildren sustain a disproportionate share of the overall injury experience, (2) the majority of recurrently injured children experience only transient periods of enhanced injury risk, and (3) preventive strategies may benefit from investigation of developmental and social environmental factors that alter such risk.

(AJDC 1989;143:338-342)

Author Affiliations
From the Division of Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco (Dr Boyce), and the Tucson Unified School District (Ms Sobolewski).

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Nov 25, 1988.

Presented in part at the Ambulatory Pediatrics Association Annual Meeting, April 30, 1984.

Reprint requests to Division of Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics, University of California, 400 Parnassus Ave, A203, San Francisco, CA 94143 (Dr Boyce).

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

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Psychological determinants of risk taking by children: an integrative model and implications for interventions
Morrongiello and Lasenby-Lessard
Inj. Prev. 2007;13:20-25.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Recurrent early childhood injuries among disadvantaged children in primary care settings
Braun et al.
Inj. Prev. 2005;11:251-255.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A population based investigation of head injuries and symptoms of concussion of children and adolescents in schools
Willer et al.
Inj. Prev. 2004;10:144-148.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Effects of Life Events on Cardiovascular Reactivity to Behavioral Stressors As a Function of Socioeconomic Status, Ethnicity, and Sex
Musante et al.
Psychosom. Med. 2000;62:760-767.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Epidemiology of Injuries in 4 Child Care Centers
Alkon et al.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1999;153:1248-1254.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Accidental injury: risk and preventative interventions
van Weeghel et al.
Arch. Dis. Child. 1997;77:28-31.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT