Injuries in the tenth and eleventh years of life.

From a sample of 803 children, 307 were involved in 413 separate incidents which resulted in injuries requiring medical attention. The most common injuries were lacerations, fractures, abrasions, and sprains. The majority of injuries were of minor severity. The most common incident resulting in an injury was a fall, followed by incidents where a child was struck by a person or object. A fifth of all falls was from bicycles. Sporting and playground equipment were associated with a large number of injuries, particularly at school. The study serves to highlight shortcomings in national injury data bases, in particular the absence of injury severity indices, codes for sports and recreation, and inadequate codes for falls. A case is made for integrating injury prevention within the school syllabus. The importance of bicycle injuries and the need for an injury surveillance based on accident and emergency centres is stressed.