Patterson Kelli N, Beckmeyer Annamarie, Bourgeois Tran, Horvath Kyle Z, Pratt Amy L, Armour Lisa, Wang Ling, Minneci Peter C, Deans Katherine J, Thakkar Rajan K, Parasidis Efthimios
Center for Surgical Outcomes Research, Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Inj Prev. 2023 Apr;29(2):142-149. doi: 10.1136/ip-2022-044675. Epub 2022 Nov 4.
Dog bite injuries cause over 100 000 paediatric emergency department visits annually. Our objective was to analyse associations between regional dog ownership laws and incidence of paediatric dog bites.
This observational study used an online search to locate local dog-related policies within Ohio cities. Data collected by Ohio Partners For Kids from 2011 through 2020 regarding claims for paediatric dog bite injuries were used to compare areas with and without located policies and the incidence of injury.
Our cohort consisted of 6175 paediatric patients with dog bite injury encounters. A majority were white (79.1%), male (55.0%), 0-5 years old (39.2%) and did not require hospital admission (98.1%). Seventy-nine of 303 cities (26.1%) had city-specific policies related to dogs. Overall, the presence of dog-related policies was associated with lower incidence of dog bite injury claims (p0.01). Specifically, metropolitan areas and the Central Ohio region had a significantly lower incidence when dog-related policies were present (324.85 per 100 000 children per year when present vs 398.56 when absent; p<0.05; 304.87 per 100 000 children per year when present vs 411.43 when absent; p<0.05).
The presence of city-specific dog-related policies is associated with lower incidence of paediatric dog bite injury claims, suggesting that local policy impacts this important public health issue. There are limited dog-related policies addressing dog bite prevention, with inconsistencies in breadth and depth. Creating consistent, practical requirements among policies with vigorous enforcement could ameliorate public health concerns from paediatric dog bite injuries.
每年有超过10万例儿童因犬咬伤前往急诊科就诊。我们的目的是分析地区性犬只饲养法律与儿童犬咬伤发生率之间的关联。
这项观察性研究通过在线搜索来查找俄亥俄州各城市与犬只相关的地方法规。俄亥俄儿童伙伴组织在2011年至2020年期间收集的有关儿童犬咬伤损伤索赔的数据，用于比较有和没有相关法规的地区以及损伤发生率。
我们的队列包括6175例有犬咬伤损伤遭遇的儿科患者。大多数患者为白人（79.1%）、男性（55.0%）、0至5岁（39.2%）且无需住院治疗（98.1%）。303个城市中有79个（26.1%）制定了与犬只相关的城市特定政策。总体而言，存在与犬只相关的政策与较低的犬咬伤损伤索赔发生率相关（p<0.01）。具体而言，在存在与犬只相关政策的情况下，大都市地区和俄亥俄州中部地区的发生率显著较低（存在政策时每年每10万名儿童中有324.85例，不存在时为398.56例；p<0.05；存在政策时每年每10万名儿童中有304.87例，不存在时为411.43例；p<0.05）。
城市特定的与犬只相关的政策与较低的儿童犬咬伤损伤索赔发生率相关，这表明地方政策会影响这一重要的公共卫生问题。针对犬咬伤预防的与犬只相关的政策有限，在广度和深度上存在不一致。在政策中制定一致、切实可行的要求并大力执行，可以减轻儿童犬咬伤损伤带来的公共卫生担忧。
