title: The impact of fatal pediatric trauma on aboriginal children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Injuries are the leading cause of death in young people. Our aim is to examine the differences between aboriginal and non-aboriginal pediatric trauma mortality as a means to focus on prevention strategies.
  
  
  METHODS
  The records for all traumatic pediatric (0-18 years) deaths between 1996 and 2010 were reviewed from the regional Medical Examiner's office.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of the total 932 pediatric deaths were the result of non-intentional injuries (640) followed by suicide (195), homicide (65), child abuse (15), and undetermined (17). Despite being only 3.3% of the provincial population, Aboriginals represented 30.9% of pediatric trauma fatalities. Aboriginal fatalities occurred most commonly in the home, with males and females equally affected. Road related events were the main causes of injury overall. Up to three-quarters of Aboriginal children who died in a non-pedestrian road related event did not wear an indicated protective device. Pedestrian deaths were over-represented in Aboriginal children. The second most common cause of death was suicide for both non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal children. Almost half of all of the suicides were Aboriginal. Homicide and child abuse had similar proportions for both non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pediatric Aboriginal injury prevention should be a priority and tailored for Aboriginal communities.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric General Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G-2B7. bratu@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Ioana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bratu
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lowe
authors.forename: Leah
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Phillips
mesh_terms: D000056:Accident Prevention; D000061:Accidents, Home / Q000401:mortality; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality; D000293:Adolescent; D000416:Alberta / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006708:Homicide / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D004930:Inuit / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D011482:Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013405:Suicide / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality*