Unintentional injuries among primary and middle school students in Maanshan City, eastern China.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the rates and patterns of unintentional injuries among primary and middle school students in China.


METHODS
A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Maanshan City of the Anhui Province in eastern China. All students attending six primary and four middle schools, selected randomly, were asked to report unintentional injuries occurring in the 12-mo period before the survey. The occurrence of unintentional injuries that resulted in medical attendance was summarized by study grade, sex, month and external causes.


RESULTS
The annual event-based injury rate per 100 students was higher among boys (21.7) than girls (17.6). Only 1.9% of the episodes resulted in hospitalization, and 17.8% resulted in missing school. The most frequent injuries were falls (38.2%) and transportation-related injuries (19.6%). The risk of injury was lower in middle schools than primary schools. Distribution by month of occurrence showed two peaks in boys during spring and autumn, but no clear peak was observed in girls.


CONCLUSIONS
The descriptive epidemiology of unintentional injuries among students in China provides useful information on the distributions in person, place and time, which in turn provide hints for the further exploration of possible risk factors that are important in planning strategies for future prevention.
Department of Community & Family Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Ye-Huan
YH
Sun
Ignatius T S
IT
Yu
Yan
Y
Zhang
Ya-Ping
YP
Fan
Shu-Qin
SQ
Guo
Tze Wai
TW
Wong
D000059:Accidents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012621:Seasons; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014504:Urban Health; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*