Injury Prevention Research Center, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong Province, China.
Department of Health Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2020 May 29;20(1):807. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-08859-3.
Child passenger safety is an important public health problem in China. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of child passenger restraint use while riding in a car in the city of Shantou in China from 2012 to 2017.
Three large-scale cross-sectional observational studies were conducted in 2012, 2015 and 2017, respectively. The observation sites included randomly selected hospitals, kindergartens, and primary and secondary schools. The outcome measures included the changes in percentages of seating position (e.g., front vs. rear), whether sitting on lap, and use of child restraint systems (CRS) or seat belts by year and by age group. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests and logistic regression were used to address the study aims.
A total of 9858 commuting children aged 17 and younger were observed in passenger cars in Shantou, China during the study. The proportion of children aged 0-5 sitting on adult's lap decreased from 26.6% in 2012 to 24.6% in 2017, while the proportion of CRS use among the children sitting in the rear row increased among children aged 0-5 (from 0.7% in 2012 to 14.2% in 2017) and children aged 6-11 (from 0.7% in 2012 to 2.4% in 2017). Comparing children aged 0-11 in 2012, children in the same ages were less likely to sit in the front row in 2015 (OR = 0.42, 95%CI = 0.37, 0.48) and in 2017 (OR = 0.27, 95%CI = 0.23, 0.31). Children aged 0-11 were more likely to sit in the rear row with CRS use in 2015 (OR = 8.50, 95%CI = 5.44, 13.28) and in 2017 (OR = 10.95, 95%CI = 7.02, 17.08) comparing with children in the same ages in 2012. As for children aged 12-17, they were more likely to use seat belt in 2017 (OR = 1.40, 95%CI = 1.06, 1.85) compared with those children in 2012.
While child passenger safety behaviors improved from 2012 to 2017 in Shantou, China, more efforts are needed to protect child passengers from injuries.
儿童乘客安全是中国一个重要的公共卫生问题。本研究旨在探讨 2012 年至 2017 年中国汕头市儿童乘车时使用汽车儿童约束系统的流行情况。
2012 年、2015 年和 2017 年分别进行了三次大型横断面观察研究。观察点包括随机选择的医院、幼儿园、小学和中学。观察指标包括座位位置（例如，前座与后座）、是否坐在腿上、以及每年和各年龄组儿童使用儿童约束系统（CRS）或安全带的变化。采用描述性统计、卡方检验和逻辑回归来分析研究目的。
在研究期间，在中国汕头市共观察了 9858 名乘坐汽车的 17 岁以下的通勤儿童。2012 年至 2017 年，0-5 岁儿童坐在成人腿上的比例从 26.6%下降至 24.6%，而 0-5 岁（从 2012 年的 0.7%上升至 2017 年的 14.2%）和 6-11 岁（从 2012 年的 0.7%上升至 2017 年的 2.4%）儿童后排座椅使用 CRS 的比例增加。与 2012 年的 0-11 岁儿童相比，2015 年（OR=0.42，95%CI=0.37，0.48）和 2017 年（OR=0.27，95%CI=0.23，0.31）前排座位的儿童比例较低。2015 年（OR=8.50，95%CI=5.44，13.28）和 2017 年（OR=10.95，95%CI=7.02，17.08）与 2012 年相比，0-11 岁儿童使用 CRS 坐在后排的可能性更大。对于 12-17 岁的儿童，与 2012 年相比，2017 年使用安全带的可能性更高（OR=1.40，95%CI=1.06，1.85）。
虽然 2012 年至 2017 年汕头市儿童乘客安全行为有所改善，但仍需进一步努力保护儿童乘客免受伤害。
