title: A survey on injury incidence in school children in Shantou City, China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study incidence characteristics and causes of injury, and its medical consequences in school children of China.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2,553 school children aged 7-16 years were recruited from Shantou City in Gunagdong by cluster sampling method, and were investigated with questionnaires on cases of injuries occurred among them from October 1, 1996 to September 30, 1997.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Injuries tended to increase with children's age, with an overall incidence rate of 37.96%, higher in boys than in girls (P<0.05); and 38.1% of children had more than two episodes of injury during this period. Falls took leading place of injury incidence both in boys and girls and in all age groups. Most injuries occurred when they were playing, sporting, riding and walking at home or in school. Self-inflicted injury ranked the first place of all injuries, followed by hurt caused by others (classmates, sibling or others). Moderate and serious injuries accounted for 8% of the total with a disability rate of 121.4/100,000.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Currently, injury has become one of the serious public health problems in China. For the improvement of children survival, it is crucial to reduce their injury to strengthen research on child safety and to implement safety-promotion programs.
authors.affiliation: Injury Prevention Research Center, Shantou University Medical School, Shantou, Guangdong 515031 China. lpli@stu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Li-Ping
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ge
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Jia-Yi
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D011634:Public Health; D012449:Safety; D014505:Urban Population; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology