Epidemiology of playground equipment related/unrelated injuries to children

Abstract

The aim of study was to understand the epidemiology of playground injury and to find the factors related to the clinically significant injuries. This retrospective observational study enrolled children (age 0–18 years old) who visited the emergency departments (ED) of 6 hospitals in Korea.We obtained and analyzed the data from the ED injury surveillance system, which was supported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control. Clinically significant injury (Cs injury) was defined as the injuries that caused hospital admission for more than one day. The factors associated with injury and clinical outcome were compared between admitted and discharged patient groups. Multivariable logistic regression and the population attributable fraction were used to identify significant factors for hospitalization.A total of 1458 patients were enrolled. The proportion of patients who visited ED due to injuries unrelated to the playground equipment use was 57.8%. The majority of Cs injury was upper extremity fractures (68.1%). The risk factors for admission were the 6- to 11-year old age group (OR 5.7, 95% CI 1.3–25.0) and public playground (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.1–5.3); the population attributable factor of these factors was 51.3% and 36.0%, respectively.This study shows that approximately 60% of the patients visited ED due to injury unrelated to the playground equipment use. The risk factors of Cs injuries were ages 6 to 11 and public playgrounds. The results of the study can be helpful to formulate the prevention policy against playground injury.

Epidemiology of child playground equipment‐related injuries in the USA: Emergency department visits, 1995–2019

“…In addition, playground injuries had a male predominance in our study. This finding was consistent with prior playground studies using databases other than NEISS 17,18 . However, a recent systematic review suggested sex is not considered as a risk factor for playground injuries 19 …”

“…This finding was consistent with prior playground studies using databases other than NEISS. 17,18 However, a recent systematic review suggested sex is not considered as a risk factor for playground injuries. 19 Climbing apparatus continued to be the most common source of playground injuries contributing to more than a third of all injuries.…”

Epidemiological characteristics and distribution of pediatric supracondylar fractures in South China: a retrospective analysis of 760 cases

“…Supracondylar fractures (SCFs) are the most common elbow fracture in children [1][2][3]. Understanding the epidemiological characteristics and distribution of SCFs in different settings and countries is critical to implementing tailored prevention and treatment strategies such as raising awareness and focused health education programs on the causes of childhood accidents and home safety enhancement for parents and teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, playground safety education and policy change in Korea and national action in China [4][5][6]. Several studies have evaluated the distribution of SCFs in many regions and countries and found that SCFs are more frequent in older children such as 55% (320/589, median age 7.4) reported by Landin et al and 58% (209/355, median age 7.9) reported by Houshian et al, and involve the nondominant, left side in most cases [3,[7][8][9][10][11][12].…”