[Mortality due to lesions in accidents and violence in children under 20 years of age]

Abstract

Given the importance of injury's associated mortality in children, the total number of deaths caused by injuries in subjects under 20 years of age along years 1982 through 1987 in Chile, were studied. The Annals of Mortality and Causes of Death of the Chilean National Institute of Statistics were reviewed for that period. The average annual injury's death rate was 21.95 per 100,000 inhabitants younger than 20 years. Suffocation, motor vehicle accidents, burning and drowning were the leading causes of death by injuries. In infants, the main reported cause of death was suffocation (90.1% of the total deaths). Motor vehicle accidents were the leading cause of death for children aged 5 to 19 years. Fifty percent of the total deaths occurred in children aged less than one year. The total injury death rate trend remained stable over the analyzed period. The same occurred for deaths due to motor vehicle accidents in 5 to 19 years old. The trend for deaths by suffocation in children aged less than one year has clearly increased during the period, as is also the case for the proportion due to this same cause over the total number of deaths.