Open AccessDifferences in injury rates in child motor vehicle passengers in rural and urban areas in New South Wales, July 2000 to June 2004
Author(s) -
Du Wei,
Finch Caroline,
Hayen Andrew,
Hatfield Julie
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 1326-0200
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2007.00122.x
Subject(s) - injury prevention , occupational safety and health , human factors and ergonomics , poison control , suicide prevention , geography , medicine , environmental health , demography , medical emergency , sociology , pathology
Objectives:To investigate whether the pattern of hospitalised injuries in injured child motor vehicle passengers involved in traffic crashes differs in rural and urban residents of New South Wales (NSW).Methods:This study compared injuries of hospitalised child motor vehicle passengers resident in rural areas with those from urban areas. The NSW Inpatient Statistics Collection (ISC), a population‐based dataset, was used to select cases for the period of July 2000 to June 2004. The hospitalised injury rate was calculated according to urban/rural status using Poisson regression. Injury rate ratios (IRR) comparing rural and urban children were computed overall and for specific injury types.Results:Overall, 1,286 children (aged 0–15 years) residing in NSW were identified from the NSW ISC internally linked datasets as being separated from hospital for injuries resulting from a motor vehicle crash. The overall hospitalised injury incidence rates for child motor vehicle passengers resident in rural and urban NSW areas were 46.75 (95% CI 36.63–59.66) and 20.13 (95% CI 17.94–22.58) per 100,000 children respectively. The rural/urban IRR for comparing the incidence of hospitalisation was significantly elevated (IRR=2.10, 95% CI 1.78–2.48). The IRR was also significantly elevated across most injury types. The largest risk disparity between rural and urban children was in 9–12 year‐olds (IRR=2.33, 95% CI 1.73–3.13).Conclusion and Implications:There is an elevated injury incidence rate in rural resident children, compared with their urban counterparts. This differential should be addressed in future road safety initiatives.