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Abstract
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Background Despite advances in prevention, injuries remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children. Supervision is often cited as an important determinant of child safety.
Aims/Objectives/Purpose Assess the association between caregiver supervision and acute unintentional injury in young children.
Methods We interviewed parents of children ≤age 4 whose injuries required Emergency Department (ED) treatment or admission to the hospital, to collect information on supervision (proximity, attention, continuity) at the time of injury and 1 h before the injury). Hospital admission was a proxy for injury severity. Case-crossover analyses were conducted.
Results/Outcomes Interviews were completed by 222 participants; 50 (23%) were parents of children admitted to the hospital. For each dimension of supervision assessed, children admitted to the hospital were at higher risk of injury; proximity was associated with the highest risk. Compared to 1 h prior to injury, children were more likely to be beyond reach of their caregiver at the time of injury (OR 11.5, 95% CI 2.7 to 48.8 for children admitted to the hospital; OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.8 to 4.9 for children treated in the ED). Injury risk was highest for children with the least supervision; the magnitude of this association was higher for children admitted to the hospital (OR 11.5, 95% CI 2.7 to 48.8) than for children treated in the ED (OR 3.5, 95% CI 2.0 to 6.0).
Significance/Contribution to the Field Less vigilant supervision increases risk of serious injury in young children. Proximity may be the most important supervision dimension for assessing child injury risk.
This is an abstract of a presentation at Safety 2012, the 11th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, 1-4 October 2012, Michael Fowler Center, Wellington, New Zealand. Full text of the published article is available: Inj Prev 2015;21:e63-e70 doi:10.1136/injuryprev-2013-041128
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