Intervention strategies for reducing the risk of unintentional gun injury are discussed.

The objective of this study was to investigate the physical, social and psychological environment of families with preschool-age children to identify the most significant risk factors for unintentional injury. The design was a 1-year prospective case-control study, using a health-visitor-administered questionnaire. The study was set in East and Midlothian, Scotland. Subjects consisted of seventy-nine children under 5 years of age presenting to an accident and emergency (A&E;) department during 1998–1999 with an unintentional home injury and 128 matched controls. Results showed that of 264 families, 207 responded (78.4% response rate). The main carers of cases had a lower level of educational attainment than controls. This factor explained the case carer leaving fulltime education earlier, being less likely to be married and more often in receipt of government benefits. Cases lived in households with larger numbers of children, were more likely to have a physical illness, were less likely to have had a non-medically attended injury in the previous year but more likely to have had another A&E; injury attendance. Case households had lower electrical socket cover utilization and fewer thought their child had adequate access to safe play areas. The main carers of cases tended to have a more negative life event experience in the preceding 6 months, but showed no significant differences in physical or mental well-being or social support. Cases seemed to be slightly more deprived members of their community. In conclusion, the main carer’s educational attainment and socket cover utilization were lower in case families. These risk factors could be used to target families for injury-prevention work. Initiatives to raise educational achievement in the general population could lead to reductions in childhood injuries.

A review of routinely collected health and fire service data was undertaken to describe individuals who died in house fires in New Zealand in the years 1991-1996 and the characteristics of fatal incidents from 1991 to 1998. Age-specific mortality rates were highest for adults =65 years and children <5 years. Age-standardised rates showed a threefold increased mortality for Maori compared with non-Maori, and an increased risk for males compared with females. Fatal incidents occurred most commonly in winter, and in the early hours of weekend mornings. Findings in New Zealand are consistent with overseas studies and demonstrate the importance of designing effective preventive strategies that reach population groups with the greatest risk. Published studies support the roles of public health workers in advocacy for mandatory smoke detectors and adequate housing standards, injury prevention counselling, smoking cessation and alcohol programmes, and community-based fire safety initiatives.

Childhood ingestion of medications remains a substantial problem. Medication available over the counter (OTC) is widely used and has significant toxicity. The present study aims to investigate the nature and extent of unintentional ingestion of OTC medication in children <5 years old in Victoria, Australia, during the period 1996–2000, in order to highlight critical factors. Numbers of enquiries relating to unintentional ingestion of OTC medication in children <5 years old and medication types were obtained from the Victorian Poisons Information Centre for 1998–2000. Emergency Department presentations involving poisoning of children <5 years old, the medication types and subsequent admissions were obtained from the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset for 1996–2000. Results showed that the numbers of enquiries and Emergency Department attendances for poisoning were substantially higher for OTC medication than for prescription medication; however, a lower proportion of cases involving ingestion of OTC medication (24.8%) required hospital admission during the study period compared with cases involving ingestion of prescription medications (33.8%). Overall, the peak incidence was at 2 years of age, with a slight male over-representation. Paracetamol and cough/cold preparations were the most common agents. In conclusion, the causes of unintentional ingestion of OTC medications by children might include lack of child-resistant closure (CRC), inadequate design of CRC, attitudes concerning the toxicity of OTC medications, or lack of vigilance by parents and carers in the storage and administration of OTC medications. Consideration should be given to restricting sales of toxic OTC medications to pharmacies, and increasing counselling of consumers concerning the toxicity and safe storage of OTC medications and the correct usage of CRC. The adequacy of CRC design and OTC medications warranting CRC should be reviewed by the relevant authorities.

The death rate from poisoning among children younger than 5 years of age has declined by 70% since enactment of the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970. An estimated 86,000 poisonings were prevented between 1974 and 1981. However, the potential for poisoning remains significant. Public education and awareness efforts should be targeted at persons who have frequent contact with children, including those who may not live in a household where children reside (e.g. grandparents).

A hospital-based case-control study was performed to determine causes of unintentional injuries among children aged 1-4 years at home. data were obtained by interviewing parents and guardians of 242 children at Lerdsin Hospital in Bangkok, from August to October 1999. The results show that falls were the most common type of injuries (54.6%). The age of 2 years comprised the major group (28.9%). The study subjects were injured within the home (60.7%). Sunday and Saturday were the most frequent days of injuries (18.2% and 16.5% respectively). The proportion of cases involving playing with others was 71.1%. Most of the injuries occurred in the period 16.00-19.00 hours (32.2%). head and neck were he main injured area (45.5%). The multivariate model showed that children who had previous injuries were 19.22 times more likely to be injured again than those who had not previously been injured. Children with vigorous physical activities also had a higher risk. Outdoor working mothers were at higher risk than houseworking mothers of having children affects. Children who spent most of the daytime at their relatives' houses had a higher risk than those who stayed at home, while 37.9% of children injured at their relatives' houses and 50.8% of all injured children were without supervision.

BACKGROUND: Unintentional injuries are a leading reason for seeking emergency care. Refugees face vulnerabilities that may contribute to injury risk. We aimed to compare the rates of unintentional injuries in immigrant children and youth by visa class and region of origin. METHODS: Population-based, cross-sectional study of children and youth (0-24 years) from immigrant families residing in Ontario, Canada, from 2011 to 2012. Multiple linked health and administrative databases were used to describe unintentional injuries by immigration visa class and region of origin. Poisson regression models estimated rate ratios for injuries. RESULTS: There were 6596.0 and 8122.3 emergency department visits per 100 000 non-refugee and refugee immigrants, respectively. Hospitalisation rates were 144.9 and 185.2 per 100 000 in each of these groups. The unintentional injury rate among refugees was 20% higher than among non-refugees (adjusted rate ratio (ARR) 1.20, 95% CI 1.16, 1.24). In both groups, rates were lowest among East and South Asians. Young age, male sex, and high income were associated with injury risk. Compared with non-refugees, refugees had higher rates of injury across most causes, including for motor vehicle injuries (ARR 1.51, 95% CI 1.40, 1.62), poisoning (ARR 1.40, 95% CI 1.26, 1.56) and suffocation (ARR 1.39, 95% CI 1.04, 1.84). INTERPRETATION: The observed 20% higher rate of unintentional injuries among refugees compared with non-refugees highlights an important opportunity for targeting population-based public health and safety interventions. Engaging refugee families shortly after arrival in active efforts for injury prevention may reduce social vulnerabilities and cultural risk factors for injury in this population.

This comprehensive report describes the patterns of unintentional injury among children and youth (0-24 years) in BC. It is based on mortality, hospitalization and emergency department data acquired from sources including BC Vital Statistics (mortality), BC Ministry of Health (hospitalization) and the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting & Prevention Program and BC's Children's Hospital (emergency department).

BACKGROUND: Unintentional injury is the leading cause of childhood death. Injury is associated with a number of sociodemographic characteristics, but little is known about risk in immigrants. Our objective was to examine the association between family immigrant status and unintentional injury in children and youth. METHODS: We performed a population-based, cross-sectional study involving children and youth (age 0-24 yr) residing in Ontario from 2008 to 2012. Multiple linked health and administrative databases were used to describe unintentional injuries by family immigrant status. Unintentional injury events (e.g., emergency department visits, admissions to hospital, deaths) were analyzed using Poisson regression models to estimate rate ratios (RRs) for injury by immigrant status. RESULTS: Annualized injury rates were 11 749 emergency department visits per 100 000 population, 267 hospital admissions per 100 000 population and 12 deaths per 100 000 population. Injury rates were lower among immigrants across all causes of unintentional injury (adjusted RR 0.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.54-0.59). Among nonimmigrants, lowest neighbourhood income quintile was associated with the highest rates (RR 1.13, 95% CI 1.08-1.18, quintile 5 v. 1); among immigrants, lowest income quintile was associated with the lowest rates of injury (RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82-0.94, quintile 5 v. 1). Highest rates of injury for nonimmigrants were among adolescents (age 10-14 yr, RR 1.23, 95% CI 1.18-1.28; v. 20-24 yr), but for immigrants, was highest among young children (0-4 yr RR 1.23, 95% CI 1.16-1.31; v. 20-24 yr). INTERPRETATION: Rates of unintentional injury are lower among immigrant than among Canadian-born children, supporting a healthy immigrant effect. Socioeconomic status and age have different associations with injury risk, suggesting alternative causal pathways for injuries in immigrant children and youth.

Children with disabilities are thought to have an increased risk of unintentional injuries, but quantitative syntheses of findings from previous studies have not been done. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess whether pre-existing disability can increase the risk of unintentional injuries among children when they are compared to children without disability. We searched 13 electronic databases to identify original research published between 1 January 1990 and 28 February 2013. We included those studies that reported on unintentional injuries among children with pre-existing disabilities compared with children without disabilities. We conducted quality assessments and then calculated pooled odds ratios of injury using random-effects models. Fifteen eligible studies were included from 24,898 references initially identified, and there was a total sample of 83,286 children with disabilities drawn from the eligible studies. When compared with children without disabilities, the pooled OR of injury was 1.86 (95 % CI 1.65-2.10) in children with disabilities. The pooled ORs of injury were 1.28, 1.75, and 1.86 in the 0-4 years, 5-9 years, and =10 years of age subgroups, respectively. Compared with children without disabilities, the pooled OR was 1.75 (95 % CI 1.26-2.43) among those with International Classification of Functioning (ICF) limitations. When disability was defined as physical disabilities, the pooled OR was 2.39 (95 % CI 1.43-4.00), and among those with cognitive disabilities, the pooled OR was 1.77 (95 % CI 1.49-2.11). There was significant heterogeneity in the included studies. Compared with peers without disabilities, children with disabilities are at a significantly higher risk of injury. Teens with disabilities may be an important subgroup for future injury prevention efforts. More data are needed from low- and middle-income countries.

The principal goal of this report is to describe what has been learned about childhood injuries from recent Canadian health surveys. Four national population based surveys have been analysed to this end – the General Social Survey (GSS), the National Population Health Survey (NPHS), the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), and the Health Promotion Survey (HPS). Information from these studies is analysed to permit a description of the characteristics of the children who are injured and the circumstances of their injuries. A secondary goal is to obtain some further details about possible risk factors. The ultimate objective, of course, is for these data to help inform policies and programs aimed at prevention. Finally, we hope that these analyses will underscore some of the shortcomings in how these surveys deal with the problem of injuries so that these limitations can be overcome in the future.

A select list of 25 items (books, journal articles) related to unintentional injuries in children.

This is the executive summary of an issue of "The Future of Children" which focuses on unintentional injuries in childhood. It briefly discusses each of the topics in the list of keywords and provides a useful list of recommendations for work in the field of childhood injury prevention.

An analysis of preventive strategies to reduce childhood injuries through education, environmental change, and the enforcement of legislation and regulations, and recommendations for steps that can reduce the toll of injuries on children’s lives.

This 1992 report on unintentional child injury prevention in Sweden had the objective to look: "... at injury prevention programmes nationally and locally in Sweden for small children [and to] ... observe methodologies used to implement these injury prevention programmes for children. This report should be seen as a description of the different activities carried out in order to achieve these objectives."

Unintentional injuries are a leading cause of death in the United States. It is unclear, however, what proportion of these injuries occur in the home. The purpose of this paper is to quantify and describe fatal unintentional injuries that take place in the home environment. Data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) were used to calculate average annual rates for unintentional home injury deaths, with 95% confidence intervals from 1992 to 1999 for the United States overall, and by mechanism of injury, gender, and age group. Results showed that from 1992 to 1999, an average of 18,048 unintentional home injury deaths occurred annually in the United States (6.83 deaths per 100,000). Home injury deaths varied by age and gender, with males having higher rates of home injury death than females (8.78 vs 4.97 per 100,000), and older adults (70 years and over) having higher rates than all other age groups. Falls (2.25 per 100,000), poisoning (1.83 per 100,000), and fire/burn injuries (1.29 per 100,000) were the leading causes of home injury death. Rates of fall death were highest for older adults, poisoning deaths were highest among middle-aged adults, and fire/burn death rates were highest among children. Inhalation/suffocation and drowning deaths were important injury issues for young children. In conclusion, unintentional injury in the home is a significant problem. Specific home injury issues include falls among older adults, poisonings among middle-aged adults, fire/burn injuries among older adults and children, and inhalation/suffocation and drowning among young children. In addition, recommendations are presented for improvements to the NVSS. Also see rec # 8107.

Homes are an important setting for nonfatal unintentional injuries. The purpose of this study was to quantify and describe nonfatal, unintentional injuries in the United States, in which the injury took place at home. Data derived from the National Health Interview Survey, National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys for Outpatient and Emergency Departments. The nonfatal unintentional home injury rate and 95% confidence interval were computed for the United States overall (1998–1999), as well as by type of injury, gender, and age group. Weights were applied for each data set as designated by the National Center for Health Statistics. Results showed that in 1998, there were more than 12 million unintentional home injuries requiring some form of medical attention. Falls were the most common injury among all age groups, followed by cutting/piercing injuries, and injuries associated with being struck by or against an object or person. Injury rates were highest among the oldest and youngest age groups. There was inconsistency across data sets with regard to the presence of location information and definitions of the home environment, inclusion criteria, and the presence of external cause of injury and poisoning codes (E-codes). Depending on the data set, information was missing for 8% and 41% of cases on the location of injury, making it impossible to determine whether the injuries occurred in the home environment. In conclusion, falls are a significant problem, particularly among older adults. Additionally, data collection systems need to be improved so that location of injury data are routinely collected using consistent definitions so as to allow comparisons across data sets and over time. Also see rec # 8106.

An interview study was conducted to demonstrate beliefs and attitudes toward causes and prevention of unintentional injury in the home. Experts in injury prevention, unskilled workers, and people in higher executive positions were interviewed on the basis of six authentic case descriptions of the course of an accident. The interviews focused on the partcipants' conceptions and interpretations of (a)causality, (b)preventability, (c) opportunities for prevention by means of information and (d) responsibility.

This study assessed the frequency and magnitude of depictions of risky events and unintentional injuries in top ranked children's animated and live action television programs. Results showed that although unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death and disability for children, these programs marketed to children, continue to portray injury risk inaccurately. Also, most injury events depicted are not treated. Working with the children's television production industry to improve injury depiction is a much needed advocacy activity. Contains statistical tables.

This article provides an overview of research conducted in New Zealand on unintentional injury. It demonstrates the areas where a well-established body of research exists and describes the key findings. The published research is considered under three headings: (1) external causes, (2) populations at risk and (3) key activities associated with injury which are not well captured by external causes (e.g. sport injuries). From the overview of injury mortality and morbidity, motor-vehicle traffic crashes, falls and drowning are the most common causes of death and hospitalization. In New Zealand, the young and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to injury. Injury is the leading cause of death and the second leading cause of hospitalization for children and adolescents. Finally, ICD external cause codes are shown as poor descriptors of the frequency of different types of injury events and location of injury events in New Zealand. For example, sport and occupational injury are not well captured by external cause classification.

the objective of this study was to examine the relationship between the magnitude, and the relative importance of unintentional child injury mortality with socioeconomic development, and to conceptualise the dynamic changes in injury mortality within the framework of epidemiological transition. This was an ecological cross sectional study using data on 51 countries. The main outcome measures were the relationship between total mortality rates, unintentional injury mortality rates, and percentage in children 1–14 years of age with gross national product (GNP) per capita. Results showed that unintentional injury mortality rates in children were negatively correlated with GNP per capita. However, by categorising the data, we found some areas of non-correlation: in children 5–14 years in low income versus lower middle income countries, and in all age and gender groups in lower high income versus higher high income countries. A high percentage of total deaths due to injuries was clearest in the lower middle income countries in all age and gender groups. In conclusion, the changes in child injury mortality in relation to socioeconomic development could be conceptualised as three stages: a stage of high magnitude; a stage of high priority; and a stage of improvement. Most middle income countries are in the high priority stage where both injury mortality rates and injury percentage of total deaths are high.

Unintentional injury is the leading killer of children in the United States. Although many may consider such injuries to be accidents, the majority of unintentional injuries are preventable. This article reviews research on programs intended to prevent injuries in young children. The article examines levels of intervention (e.g., national, community, family, and individual), methods of intervention (e.g., legislation, education, and behavioral training), types of intervention (e.g., passive and active), and targets of intervention (e.g., families, caregivers, and children). The paper also suggests a means of categorizing types of interventions along a numerical continuum from most passive to most active.

This paper reviews the area of unintentional injury. The review includes an overview of the literature and research, indicating themes and directions for future research and the identification for policy development in the prevention of unintentional injury. It appears to be a comprehensive look at the injury picture in NZ in 1991. Gives some ideas for prevention strategies but only at policy level, no details.

This fact sheet presents the age and gender specific rates of unintentional injury resulting in death and hospitalisation in New Zealand.

OBJECTIVE: Data from the Queensland Poisons Information Centre (QPIC) was assessed to determine mechanisms of acute insecticide poisoning in young children (<5 years) and whether age affects insecticide-poisoning patterns. METHODS: Records of all insecticide-related calls placed to QPIC in 2014 were obtained. A stratified analysis of call patterns by age was conducted. RESULTS: Of 743 insecticide-related calls received by QPIC 364 (49.0%) were for young children. The number of calls peaked in children aged one. Ant and cockroach baits accounted for 39.0% of calls. Sprays, which were found to contain not only pyrethroids, pyrethrins and/or piperonly butoxide but also the organophosphate diazinon, accounted for 25.8% of calls. Mouthing or ingesting a pest-control product and consuming an item/insect after treatment were common mechanisms for children under the age of two. Topical exposure to sprays, via direct application, typically by the child or an older sibling, peaked in children aged two. In 12.3% of calls medical attention for the child was already sought or advised by QPIC. CONCLUSION: Normal behaviours associated with child development, particularly mouthing behaviours, explained the peak of exposure in one-year-olds. This finding should guide strategies to minimise poisonings in this vulnerable population.

OBJECTIVE There have been substantial reductions in motor vehicle crash-related child fatalities due to advances in legislation, public safety campaigns, and engineering. Less is known about nontraffic injuries and fatalities to children in and around motor vehicles. The objective of this study was to describe the frequency of various nontraffic incidents, injuries, and fatalities to children using a unique surveillance system and database. METHODS Instances of nontraffic injuries and fatalities in the United States to children 0-14 years were tracked from January 1990 - December 2014 using a compilation of sources including media reports, individual accounts from families of affected children, medical examiner reports, police reports, child death review teams, coroner reports, medical professionals, legal professionals, and other various modes of publication. RESULTS Over the 25-year period, there were at least 11,759 events resulting in 3,396 deaths. The median age of the affected child was 3.7 years. The incident types included 3,115 children unattended in hot vehicles 729 deaths, 2,251 backovers 1,232 deaths, 1,439 frontovers 692 deaths, 777 vehicles knocked into motion 227 deaths, 415 underage drivers 203 deaths, 172 power window incidents 61 deaths, 134 falls 54 deaths and 79 fires 41 deaths, and 3,377 other incidents 157 deaths. CONCLUSIONS Nontraffic injuries and fatalities present an important threat to the safety and lives of very young children. Future efforts should consider complimentary surveillance mechanisms to systematically and comprehensively capture of all nontraffic incidents. Continued education, engineering modifications, advocacy, and legislation can help continue to prevent these incidents and must be incorporated in overall child vehicle safety initiatives.

Describes epidemiology of unintentional childhood poisoning hospitalisation in Victoria, Australia, in order to monitor trends and identify areas for research and prevention. Data reveals that there has been no decrease in the number of hospitalisations over the last 5 years.

Child poisoning, 0-4 years, remains the second ranked cause for injury hospitalisation in Victoria. This article explores regional differences in hospital admission and emergency department (ED) rates and management of child poisoning cases. The specific objectives of this study were to: (1) Describe broad regional differences (2) Identify any differences in poisoning rates by individual agent (3) To determine, to the extent possible with existing data, whether patient management practices differed in the three broad geographical regions. Results showed that rates of hospitalised cases are highest amongst rural children, especially for paracetamol and agricultural and horticultural preparations. Rural children are also more likely to be hospitalised following a poisoning related presentation to an ED compared to metropolitan children. Research is required to determine whether there are real differences in poisoning rates between regions or if the observed differences in admissioons are the result of patient managemant practices.

This factsheet describes the incidence of unintentional poisonings among 0-14 year olds in New Zealand that resulted in death (1990-1999) or hospitalisation (1993-2002).

The objective of this study was to provide an overall pattern of morbidity in unintentional residential childhood injuries (URCI) in Hong Kong. A cross-sectional telephone survey of caregivers of children aged under 16-years and adolescents suffering from URCI and admitted to three selected local Accident and Emergency Departments. Results showed that falls, cuts and scalds were the most common external causes of URCI observed, while boys predominated in the sample population. Most of the observed URCI were of moderate to mild severity. Children of new immigrant mothers were more likely to receive first aid immediately after the incidents. Parents were aware of potentially injurious behaviour and intervened on occasion, but most resorted to verbal warnings only. In conclusions, prevalence of falls among observed URCI offers evidence in support of the hypothesis that the high population density in Hong Kong plays an integral role in understanding mechanisms of morbidity. Parents show concern about URCI but often lack substantial action that modifies injury risk. Considering the local injury differentials, an active prevention effort such as behavioural intervention and education for parents may be useful.

This study sought to determine the incidence, nature and circumstances of injuries which resulted in death or hospitalisation. The results suggest that prevention policy should place emphasis on those in their first 2 years of schooling, falls from playground equipment, provision of protective equipment for sporting activities, sporting activities designed to minimize physical contact, establishment of standardized injury referral procedures, first-aid training, and a standardized injury reporting system.

This study suggests that using spoons to measure medicines can lead to mistakes in dosing. The US study looked at the impact on children under 9. It found that parents who use mililitre measures were more likely to give their children the correct dose of medicine. Underdosing can potentially lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant infections. Overdosing can be life-threatening. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2014-0395 http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/07/09/peds.2014-0395.full.pdf+html

This article describes a decrease in the incidence of unintentional ingestion of iron by children (and also a significant decrease in mortality) due to unit-dose packaging or 'blister packaging'. These decreases are seen to validate the use of unit-dose packaging as an effective prevention strategy and states that: "this highly effective intervention should be considered for other medications with a high hazard for morbidity and mortality when taken as an overdose".

This is the Ministry of Social Development's fifth report on New Zealand's progress in implementing the articles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC).

This is New Zealand's first periodic report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child and covers the period from June 1995 to June 2000. It deals with legislative, judicial, administrative and/or other measures which have been adopted during the period under review and which give effect to the provisions of the Convention. Included is a letter from the Minister of Youth Affairs which outlines the working draft and provides a guide to commenting on this draft report.

This information kit has been designed to help people comment on New Zealand's 2000 report on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC). Consultation papers include: (1) Keeping track of UNCROC in New Zealand, (2) Defining a "child" - who does UNCROC cover?, (3) Using the General Principles of UNCROC in New Zealand, (4) Civil rights and freedoms, (5) Family life and other care, (6) health care and financial help from the government, (7) School, free time and doing cultural things, (8) How do we protect children. Also included is a summary of all the recommendations given by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to New Zealand after its 1995 report.

A3 poster, filed with posters

Bilingual version in Maori and English

Paper traces the genesis of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and considers its impact both internationally and within New Zealand.

Article 42 of the Convention states "Parties undertake to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike." This booklet reports on a consultative project undertaken with young people in New Zealand regarding this article.

The convention is an international treaty signed by over 125 nations agreeing to be bound by its terms. New Zealand ratified the Convention in March 1993. This paper gives some background details about the convention and attached is some pages from a guide to learning about the convention intended for youth group leaders and teachers working with young people aged 13 and older.

This is a pamphlet, with diagrams, from NHTSA which outlines this system. The UCSSS is a uniform anchorage (attachment) system for all new motor vehicles and child safety seats. The new system will greatly simplify child safety seat installation and will protect children by keeping seats more secure in vehicles. At least two rear seating positions in each vehicle will be equipped with the system. In addition, a third rear seating position will have an upper (tether) anchorage to hold the child seat tightly so the child’s head won't move too far forward in the event of a crash.

Article about a study published in NZ Medical Journal. The study looked at National Poison Centre data and cases and found many cases related to exposures to chemicals not in their original packaging or mislabelled.

There has been a marked increase in the use of unpowered scooters over the past few years. Along with this, there has been an increase in injuries related to their use. The objective of this study was to review the unpowered scooter-related injury reports compiled by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and to describe the scope and type of injuries sustained. A consecutive case series of injuries sustained by individuals using unpowered scooters between January 1995 and June 2001 was compiled by the CPSC and was made available for review. Data collected included general demographics, date and type of injury, a brief description of the event, treatment, and outcomes. Data are reported using descriptive statistics. During the study period, 469 unique cases of unpowered scooter-related injuries were compiled by the CPSC and reviewed for the present analysis. The median age of those injured was 10 years (range, 1-70 y) with 63% male. Of those injured, 24 (5.1 %) required hospitalization. The most frequent injuries were lacerations (26%), fractures (22%), and contusions (16%). Of interest; 15 deaths were reported. A broad spectrum of injuries was reported to the CPSC related to the use of unpowered scooters. Although most injuries were relatively minor, there were 15 deaths reported. Although most injuries occurred in older children and young adolescents, the very young and adults were not immune from injuries. The risk of injury from unpowered scooters and the need for safety awareness should be stressed to all individuals including the very young and adults.