Aim: To identify the incidence and related risk factors of injuries in pre-school children aged 0-6 years in China.
Methods: Children with non-fatal injuries (n=122) were matched to healthy controls by sex, age, community of residency and history of injury. Conditional multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results: The overall incidence of injuries was 3.3%. After adjustment for all selected variables, the risk factors for childhood injuries included father's occupation as a self-employed person (OR: 5.7, 95% CI: 1.8-18.5), child's active temperament type (OR: 2.8, 95% CI: 1.5-5.3), inappropriate storage of medicines (OR: 3.1, 95% CI: 1.3-6.9) and inappropriate placement of heating equipment (OR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.0-4.4). The protective factors included children's acquirement of safety education from their teachers at school (OR: 0.03, 95% CI: 0.01-0.2), and from their parents (OR: 0.08, 95% CI: 0.02-0.3).
Conclusions: Interventions targeting the risk factors specifically may help prevent and reduce the occurrence of injuries in young children.
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