Jornal de Trauma e Tratamento

Trends in Childhood Injury Mortality in Tianjin, China 1999-2008: Sex, Age, and Geography Disparities

Abstract

Guohong Jiang, Dezheng Wang, Wei Li, Hui Zhang, Zhuo Wang and Wenlong Zheng

Objectives: To examine the differences between the injury and poisoning related death rates and leading cause among childhood by sex, age, and urban/rural areas so that the effective methods will be implemented to control the priorities of childhood injury in Tianjin.
Methods: Annual all-cause of death records for 1999-2008 provided demographic data of injury mortality including sex, age, and geography, and cause of death. Trend analyses were conducted using linear regression.
Results: From 1999-2008, the injury and poisoning related death was the first leading cause of  childhood. The injury mortality rates of children remained around 10-15/100,000 while death rates of male and rural were twofour times more than that in female and urban, also much higher than the total. The unintentional injury was up to over 75% in total. Traffic and drowning were the two leading causes in children, and motor vehicle related death proportions were increased significantly during the study period.
Conclusions: This study found important patterns, priorities and disparities in injury death by genders, age groups and urban/rural areas which can be used for identifying high risk groups and guiding prevention strategies. The effective legislation and practice action should be implemented for reducing the burden of injury, particularly, in rural area.