Injury: The Number One Killer of Children

Injury: The Number One Killer of Children

Injuries are the #1 cause of death among children. Car crashes, suffocation, drowning, poisoning, fires, and falls are some of the most common causes of injury.

The latest edition of CDC Vital Signs discusses the serious problem of child injury in the United States and the proven measures that can help save young lives.

Facts:

• Every hour, one child dies from an injury.
• About 1 in 5 child deaths is due to injury.
• Every 4 seconds, a child is treated for an injury in an emergency department.

Injury is the #1 cause of death among children. CDC have made progress in keeping kids safe and the number of children dying from injury dropped nearly 30% over the last decade. However, more than 9,000 children died from unintentional injuries in the United States in 2009.

Car crashes, suffocation, drowning, poisoning, fires, and falls are some of the most common ways children are hurt or killed. Though death rates for most of these are dropping, suffocation and poisoning rates are on the rise.

The upsurge in suffocations has been driven by a 54% increase in reported suffocation among infants per year. Additionally, increases in poisoning death rates were due to a 91% increase among teens aged 15-19.

Posted by George Daniels on Monday April 23 2012, 3:12 AM EST. Ref: CDC. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0