Thein M M, Lee B W, Bun P Y
Department of Community Occupational and Family Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 229899.
Singapore Med J. 2005 Mar;46(3):116-21.
Childhood injuries are the leading cause of death for children between 5 to 14 years of age in Singapore. However, there is no information or data on childhood injuries in the community in Singapore. There was a need to conduct a nationwide study on childhood injuries in Singapore in order to estimate the prevalence rate, types of injuries, and to identify the hazards in the homes of the children.
A cross-sectional nationwide study with a two-stage stratified random sampling was conducted to obtain a representative sample of the Singapore population. Families that had children younger than 15 years of age were selected for the study. Parents and caregivers were interviewed at their homes.
There were 2322 children in the study, of which 452 had one or more injuries in the past one year, giving an overall prevalence rate of 19.5 percent. Of the children who had injuries, the home was the commonest place where injuries occurred (45 percent) and falls were the leading cause of injuries (77 percent). There were many hazards identified in the homes studied and it was found that the more hazards present in the homes, the more likely it is for the child to get injuries.
There is a need for educational and interventional programmes to help Singaporeans understand the need to make the home environment safe for children and to prevent home injuries.
在新加坡，儿童伤害是5至14岁儿童的主要死因。然而，新加坡社区中没有关于儿童伤害的信息或数据。有必要在新加坡开展一项关于儿童伤害的全国性研究，以估计患病率、伤害类型，并识别儿童家庭中的危险因素。
采用两阶段分层随机抽样进行全国性横断面研究，以获取具有代表性的新加坡人口样本。选择有15岁以下儿童的家庭参与研究。在其家中对父母和照顾者进行访谈。
该研究中有2322名儿童，其中452名在过去一年中发生过一次或多次伤害，总体患病率为19.5%。在受伤的儿童中，家庭是伤害发生最常见的场所（45%），跌倒为伤害的主要原因（77%）。在所研究的家庭中发现了许多危险因素，并且发现家庭中存在的危险因素越多，儿童受伤的可能性就越大。
需要开展教育和干预项目，以帮助新加坡人认识到为儿童营造安全家庭环境并预防家庭伤害的必要性。
