Injuries in young people with developmental disabilities: comparative investigation from the 1988 National Health Interview Survey.

Injury rates among community-based young people with developmental disabilities were compared to controls and to young people with chronic illness and their controls, using data from the 1988 National Health Interview Study. Children with disabilities had higher injury rates than did controls, but children with chronic illness did not. Preschoolers with chronic illness tended to have lower rates of injury. Analyses were also conducted by sex. These injury patterns may be due to both impaired function resulting from disability and overprotection with decreased exposure to risk.