Incidence and Impact of Unintentional Childhood Injuries: A Community Based Study in Rural South India

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the incidence of unintentional childhood injuries and to assess the impact of injury during childhood.

Methods: This is a cross sectional study, conducted in 13 clusters of a rural block in Vellore. Children were screened by two-stage cluster sampling method by two weeks and three months recall method. The primary caregivers of injured children were administered a questionnaire to assess the impact of the injury.

Results: Childhood injury related morbidity was 292.5 per 1000 y. Children between 10 and 14 y (4.6%) and boys (4.5%) had a higher rate of injury. Fall (43.1 %) was the most common cause of injury followed by RTIs (Road Traffic Incidents- 27.6%). Work absenteeism for primary caregivers ranged from 1 to 60 (IQR 2-7) days. Sickness absenteeism ranged from 1 to 45 d with a mean of 7.64 (IQR 2-7) days. Half of the children missed school after an injury. The days spent with temporary disability ranged from 1 to 60 d with a mean of 11.79 (IQR 2-7) d and 7.73% had permanent disability.

Conclusions: Unintentional childhood injury is a neglected public health problem which leads to sickness absenteeism and disability. Boys and older children are the most common victims of injury. There is a need for establishing state or nationwide injury registries to help understand accurate estimates of disability-adjusted life year (DALY) and loss of productivity.

Keywords: Disability; Incidence; Sickness absenteeism; Unintentional childhood injuries.