NCJ Number
150177
Date Published
1994
Length
78 pages
Annotation
Using information from government agencies and other sources, this volume presents statistical data and text describing injuries and injury-related deaths to children and adolescents in the United States in various years, especially 1988-90.
Abstract
Sources of injuries included motor vehicle crashes, burns, poisonings, drownings, pedestrian and bicycle crashes, homicides, assaults, rapes, suicides, suicide attempts, and child abuse. The text notes that childhood injury is the main public health problem in the United States today, causing more deaths than all childhood diseases combined and contributing greatly to childhood disability. In 1988, injuries caused the deaths of more than 22,000 children and youths ages 19 and under and accounted for 80 percent of deaths among persons 15-19 years old. Child mortality rates in the United States are higher than those in comparable industrialized national; injuries account for the difference. Contributing factors and prevention strategies for violence and unintentional injury are sometimes the same. Alcohol and other drugs, poverty, access to firearms, and tap water temperatures are all linked to injuries. The direct and immediate health care costs of nonfatal injuries to children have been estimated at $5.1 billion annually in 1987 dollars. Figures, photographs, appended table, and 60 references