The epidemiology of home injuries to children under five years in New Zealand

OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the epidemiology of injuries sustained by children under five in the home. METHODS: Cases were selected from the New Zealand Health Information Service public hospital morbidity and mortality data, and included all 0-4 year olds where the place of injury occurrence was classified as 'home'. The circumstances of injury were coded according to the Supplementary Classifications of External Causes of Injury and Poisoning (E-codes) of the International Classifications of Diseases. Age-specific rates of death or hospitalisation due to injury were calculated using the population of 0-4 year olds in New Zealand for each year as the denominator. RESULTS: The rate of death from an injury sustained at home between 1989 and 1998 was 13 per 100,000 population per year. The main causes of death were suffocation, submersion, homicide and fire. The rate of hospitalisation in children aged 0-4 years from an injury sustained in the home between 1989 and 2000 was 737 per 100,000 population per year. The most frequently recorded causes of hospitalisation were falls, scalds, poisonings and cut/piercing incidents. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Although there has been an apparent decrease in the number of children hospitalised for injuries sustained in the home environment, it is not possible to determine if this is a 'real' change or a result of other factors affecting the data. While children continue to be killed and injured as a result of preventable incidents in the home environment, injury prevention strategies should be continued and strengthened.