The epidemiology of injury in a rural state: 5,322 cases over 6 years.

Presently, descriptions of rural trauma are complications of national sample statistics and local data from states projected to rural areas. This study reviews all hospital discharges (36,866) for children (aged 0 to 18 years) from January 1985 through December 1990 in an entirely rural state. Fourteen percent of admissions (5,322) were due to traumatic injury and 63% of these occurred in boys. Injury rates were age dependent with children 15 to 18 years experiencing an incidence of 110/10,000; 10 to 14 years 55/10,000; 5 to 9 years 39/10,000; 1 to 4 years 35/10,000; and < 1 year 39.5/10,000. Mean age for the entire population was 11.4 +/- 5.7 years. Thirty-five percent of children had more than one major site of injury. Sixty-three percent of admissions were for blunt trauma and only 4.8% were penetrating. The remainder were due to burns, hanging, ingestion, and other toxic agents. Falls constituted the most prevalent cause of injury in this population occurring in 25.9%, motor vehicle accidents 22.9%, struck by an object 9.6%, suicide attempts 8.5%, poisoning 4.7%, fire 1.2%, drowning 0.7%, and farm machinery 0.3%. The vast majority of motor vehicle accidents involved the child as an operator or occupant of the vehicle. Less than 10% involved a pedestrian being struck and less than 5% involved a child being struck while on a bicycle. Less than 6% of all injuries involved a bicycle. Child maltreatment was recorded in less than 2% of this population. Only 3.3% of injured children required transfer to another acute care facility (1/3 because of a motor vehicle accident and 1/4 because of a fall).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)