A descriptive study of childhood injuries in Kingston, Ontario, using data from a computerized injury surveillance system.

This report uses data from the Kingston and Region Injury Surveillance Program (KRISP), a subset of the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP), to describe rates and identify patterns of injury among children aged 0-19 years in Kingston and area. During 1994, there were 7572 reported injury events, resulting in an overall rate of 173.6 injuries per 1000 children per year (males: 202 per 1000; females: 143.7 per 1000). Four major patterns of injury were identified as priorities for intervention: 1) household injuries among children aged 0-4 years; 2) injuries occurring on playgrounds to children aged 5-14 years; 3) sports injuries among 10-19-year-old children and youth; and 4) bicycle-related injuries among children 5-14 years of age. Discussion focuses on the use of the surveillance system in prioritizing interventions and evaluating injury prevention programs for this population.