Accidental injury in childhood: a literature review on pediatric trauma.

This article reviews the literature on accidental injury in childhood, summarizing incidence rates and outlining the factors which have been cited as affecting pediatric trauma: the host, the agents, and the environment. During childhood, age and sex differences for rates of accidental injury are frequently reported. Vehicular accidents, falls, drownings, burns, and ingestions are found to be common agents of injury to pediatric patients. The home affords a virtual breeding ground for accidents to children; however, parents also play an important role in the child's environment, with their illnesses, preoccupations, or dispositions to (in)action having consequences which may eventuate in injury.