Ministry of Health, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
World Health Organization, Country Office, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
BMC Public Health. 2020 Nov 12;20(1):1697. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09839-3.
Unintentional injuries among adolescents is a major public health problem the world over. A great majority of the annual deaths among adolescents is due to unintentional injuries; it is also the leading cause of death among adolescents in the world. The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of injuries and their associated factors among school going adolescents aged 13-17 years using data from the most recent Global School-Based Health Survey (GSHS) conducted in Sri Lanka.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire, among 3262 adolescents attending government schools. The sample was selected through a two-staged cluster sampling technique. In the first stage, 40 schools were selected using probabilities proportional to school enrollment size, from all schools in the country that have classes in grades 8-12. Then, from the selected schools, classes were selected using systematic equal probability sampling with a random start. The weighted prevalence was calculated, and logistic regression analysis was conducted in order to determine the correlates.
During the 12 months before the survey, 35.8% (95% CI-30.7 - 41.1) of the students reported being seriously injured one or more times. The injuries were more common among males, but were equally common among the two different age groups (13-15 age group vs 16-17 age group). The most common type of injury was cut or stab wounds (5.5%), followed by broken bones/dislocated joints (5.3%). Multivariable analysis revealed that only a few factors were associated with injury, such as being of the male sex, being bullied, being physically attacked, and/or being in a physical fight.
This study demonstrated that the prevalence of serious unintentional injuries among school going adolescents is a major public health problem in Sri Lanka. This timely and comprehensive survey would help policy makers and researchers identify the unmet needs related to adolescent injuries. Furthermore, evidence generated form the study should be given due consideration when designing school-based interventions to prevent adolescent injuries.
青少年意外伤害是全球范围内一个重大的公共卫生问题。全球每年有大量青少年因意外伤害死亡，这也是世界范围内导致青少年死亡的主要原因。本研究旨在使用斯里兰卡最近的全球学校学生健康调查（GSHS）数据，估算 13-17 岁在校青少年意外伤害发生率及其相关因素。
采用横断面调查方法，对 3262 名在政府学校就读的青少年进行自填式问卷调查。采用概率与学校入学人数成正比的两阶段整群抽样技术选择样本。第一阶段，从全国所有有 8-12 年级的学校中，按学校规模大小抽取 40 所学校；然后，从选定的学校中，采用系统等概率抽样方法，随机起点抽取班级。计算加权患病率，并进行逻辑回归分析以确定相关因素。
在调查前 12 个月，35.8%（95%CI-30.7-41.1）的学生报告曾有一次或多次严重受伤。男性受伤更常见，但在两个不同年龄组（13-15 岁年龄组和 16-17 岁年龄组）中发生率相同。最常见的受伤类型是割伤或刺伤（5.5%），其次是骨折/脱臼（5.3%）。多变量分析显示，只有少数因素与受伤相关，如男性、被欺凌、被人身攻击和/或打架。
本研究表明，在校青少年严重意外伤害的发生率是斯里兰卡的一个重大公共卫生问题。这项及时和全面的调查将有助于政策制定者和研究人员确定与青少年伤害相关的未满足需求。此外，在设计预防青少年伤害的基于学校的干预措施时，应充分考虑从该研究中获得的证据。
