Burden of Disease Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa; Institute for Lifecourse Development, Faculty of Education, Health and Human Sciences, University of Greenwich, London, UK.
S Afr Med J. 2022 Jul 1;112(7):465-471.
In South Africa (SA), road traffic injuries, homicides and burns are the leading causes of injury-related deaths among children. Injury-related deaths are well documented for SA, but this is not the case for non-fatal injuries.
To describe the non-fatal injuries sustained among children aged 0 - 13 years, to identify any significant sex differences by age group, cause of injury, admission status and injury severity.
The trauma unit database from 1997 to 2016 at Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, was utilised for this analysis. The prevalence of injuries and the boy/girl ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported.
Analysis indicated significant differences by sex for individual injury causes (transport, assault, burns, falls and other injuries), age group, injury severity and admission status. Moderately severe injuries were largely caused by burns, while severe injuries were mostly transport related. Boys had significantly higher proportions of all injury causes. The boy/girl ratio was lowest for assault (1:18), where significantly more girls aged 1 - 3 and 4 - 6 years were injured. Rape/sexual assault was 5.5 times higher for girls, with a significantly higher proportion of moderate-severity injuries (87%; 95% CI 84.7 - 89.4).
The study findings call for a more targeted prevention response for boy and girl children. Interventions should be targeted at the prevention of burns, traffic collisions and interpersonal violence, in particular sexual assaults against girls.
在南非，道路交通伤害、凶杀和烧伤是儿童伤害相关死亡的主要原因。南非有充分的伤害相关死亡记录，但非致命性伤害却并非如此。
描述 0-13 岁儿童的非致命性伤害，按年龄组、损伤原因、入院状态和损伤严重程度确定任何显著的性别差异。
利用 1997 年至 2016 年开普敦红十字会战争纪念儿童医院创伤科的数据库进行此项分析。报告了损伤的患病率以及男孩/女孩比值（95%置信区间[CI]）。
分析表明，性别在个别损伤原因（交通、攻击、烧伤、跌倒和其他损伤）、年龄组、损伤严重程度和入院状态方面存在显著差异。中度严重损伤主要由烧伤引起，而严重损伤主要与交通有关。男孩的所有损伤原因比例均显著较高。在 1-3 岁和 4-6 岁女孩中，攻击损伤的男孩/女孩比值最低（1:18），女孩受伤比例显著较高。女孩遭受性侵犯/性攻击的比例高 5.5 倍，中度严重损伤的比例明显较高（87%；95%CI 84.7-89.4）。
研究结果呼吁针对男童和女童采取更有针对性的预防对策。干预措施应针对预防烧伤、交通事故和人际暴力，特别是针对女孩的性侵犯。
