title: Socioeconomic status and the incidence of child injuries in China.
abstract: Injuries are the major cause of morbidity among children and one of the leading causes of death for children ages 1-17 years in developing countries. Of particular importance is whether child injuries are equally distributed across all socioeconomic groups and the implications of this question for child injury prevention, but there is a lack of research on the relationship between socioeconomic status and risk of child injuries in developing countries, including China. This study used a provincially-representative, population-based sample of 98,385 Chinese children under age 18 to investigate the relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and child injuries. Despite the lack of a SES gradient in the overall incidence of nonhospitalized injuries, evidence of SES disparity was found for the overall incidence of H/PD injuries (injuries resulting in hospitalization or permanent disability) and fatal injuries. The odds of getting injured in the poorest wealth quintile were about 1.3 and 3.5 times greater than the odds found in the richest wealth quintile for H/PD and fatal injuries respectively. Further analyses showed that the associations between SES and injuries varied by type and severity of injury, and across different life stages. The findings have important implications for identifying at-risk populations and the optimal times for interventions to reduce different types and severity levels of child injuries.
authors.affiliation: International Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, No. 17 Qinghuadong Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: xmfang@cau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiangming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, Jiangsu, China. Electronic address: jingruiwei@163.com.
authors.forename: Ruiwei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.affiliation: Chinese Field Epidemiology Training Program, 27 Nanwei Rd., Beijing 100050, China. Electronic address: zeng4605@vip.sina.com.
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Maternal and Child Health consultant, Bangkok, Thailand. Electronic address: hlinnan@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Huan Wan
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Linnan
authors.affiliation: United Nations Children's Fund China Office, 12, Sanlitun, Beijing 100600, China. Electronic address: xzhu@unicef.org.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: The Alliance for Safe Children (TASC), Bangkok, Thailand. Electronic address: mlinnan@tasc-gcipf.org.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Linnan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012923:Social Class; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Child injuries; China; Population-based sample; Socioeconomic status