[Investigation on the unintentional injuries among rural children in Shaanxi province].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the current status of unintentional injuries among rural children aged 0 - 12 years in Shaanxi.

METHODS

Using a three-stage stratified random sampling method to study the status of unintentional injuries among 4668 children aged 0 - 12 years old during the period of 2010 in rural areas of Shaanxi province.

RESULTS

The overall incidence of injure was 27.3%, with boys as 28.7% and girls as 25.6% respectively (χ(2) = 5.91, P = 0.015). Age differences in unintentional injuries rate were also significant (χ(2) = 9.91, P = 0.007), with children under 0 - 3 years old having the highest rate of injuries, followed by 7 - 12 and 4 - 6 year-olds. Falls took the leading type of accident among both sexes and all age groups. Poorer the family economic situation was, higher the incidence of unintentional injuries appeared.

CONCLUSION

Falls was the leading cause of unintentional injuries among rural children in Shaanxi province, with age 0 - 3 year group appeared the highest to suffer unintentional injuries. Unintentional injuries were associated with the economic status of the families.