Left-handedness as a risk factor for unintentional injury in children.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether left-handedness is a risk factor for unintentional injury among children and adolescents.


METHODS
Case-control study.


METHODS
Pediatric emergency department of Arkansas Children's Hospital.


METHODS
265 patients sustaining unintentional trauma aged 6 to 18 years and 494 control patients who did not have trauma were given a questionnaire to determine handedness, past unintentional injury, and parental perception of injury proneness.


RESULTS
The frequency of left-handedness in the trauma group (18.1%) was significantly greater than frequency of 10.5% in the control group (P < .003, odds ratio = 1.80, 95% confidence interval 1.20 to 2.72). Multivariate analysis revealed handedness as the only significant variable between trauma and control (P < .04). The proportion of left-handers who had been hospitalized previously for injury treatment (20.0%) was larger than the proportion of right-handers, (12.0%) (P < .026, odds ratio = 1.84, 95% confidence interval 1.03 to 3.27). More parents of left-handers rated their child as "more clumsy than average" than parents of right-handers (26.0% vs 15.2%, P < .007).


CONCLUSIONS
Left-handedness appears to be a risk factor for unintentional injury in children and adolescents in a pediatric emergency department population.
Graham
C J
CJ
Department of Pediatrics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock.
Dick
R
R
Rickert
V I
VI
Glenn
R
R
D000057:Accident Proneness; D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010290:Parents; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000209:etiology*