Characteristics of low-speed vehicle run-over events in children: an 11-year review.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics associated with fatal and non-fatal low-speed vehicle run-over (LSVRO) events in relation to person, incident and injury characteristics, in order to identify appropriate points for intervention and injury prevention.


METHODS
Data on all known LSVRO events in Queensland, Australia, over 11 calendar years (1999-2009) were extracted from five different databases representing the continuum of care (prehospital to fatality) and manually linked. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were used to analyse the sample characteristics in relation to demographics, health service usage, outcomes, incident characteristics, and injury characteristics.


RESULTS
Of the 1641 LSVRO incidents, 98.4% (n=1615) were non-fatal, and 1.6% were fatal (n=26). Over half the children required admission to hospital (56%, n=921); mean length of stay was 3.4 days. Younger children aged 0-4 years were more frequently injured, and experienced more serious injuries with worse outcomes. Patterns of injury (injury type and severity), injury characteristics (eg, time of injury, vehicle type, driver of vehicle, incident location), and demographic characteristics (such as socioeconomic status, indigenous status, remoteness), varied according to age group. Almost half (45.6%; n=737) the events occurred outside major cities, and approximately 10% of events involved indigenous children. Parents were most commonly the vehicle drivers in fatal incidents. While larger vehicles such as four-wheel drives (4WD) were most frequently involved in LSVRO events resulting in fatalities, cars were most frequently involved in non-fatal events.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study, to the authors' knowledge, to analyse the characteristics of fatal and non-fatal LSVRO events in children aged 0-15 years on a state-wide basis. Characteristics of LSVRO events varied with age, thus age-specific interventions are required. Children living outside major cities, and indigenous children, were over-represented in these data. Further research is required to identify the burden of injury in these groups.
School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Australia Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Bronwyn R
BR
Griffin
School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Australia.
Kerrianne
K
Watt
School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Australia Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Tropical Health Research Unit, James Cook University & Townsville Health Services District, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Linda E
LE
Shields
School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Australia Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
Roy M
RM
Kimble
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D018986:Motor Vehicles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011793:Queensland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000209:etiology*
Low speed vehicle run-over; child injury; child pedestrian; driveway injury; injury