Childhood injuries from motor vehicle-pedestrian collisions in Wuhan, The People's Republic of China.

OBJECTIVES

To examine motor vehicle-pedestrian collision injuries resulting in hospitalisation among children admitted into Wuhan Children's Hospital, The People's Republic of China.

METHODS

From the 1993 to 2004 inpatient data of Wuhan Children's Hospital, we identified injury cases from motor vehicle traffic crashes among children aged 18 years or less using the discharge diagnosis defined by the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM). We examined characteristics of injuries from motor vehicle traffic crashes (ICD-9-CM = E810-E819) and then calculated the proportion of injuries from motor vehicle-pedestrian collisions (ICD-9-CM = E814) among all hospitalisations for childhood injuries (ICD-9-CM = 800-959). The trend of injuries from motor vehicle-pedestrian collisions from 1993 to 2004 was described.

RESULTS

Of the 12,939 injuries resulting in hospitalisation among children admitted into Wuhan Children's Hospital during 1993-2004, a total of 528 injuries were caused by motor vehicle traffic crashes. The majority of the injured children in motor vehicle traffic crashes were males (59.3%). In comparison with other traffic injuries, a higher proportion of motor vehicle-pedestrian collisions occurred among children aged 12-15 years. Motor vehicle-pedestrian collision injuries resulted in significantly longer lengths of stay in the hospital than other motor vehicle traffic injuries (19.4 days versus 14.3 days, respectively; t-test = 2.59, p-value < 0.05). The percentage of motor vehicle-pedestrian collision injuries among all hospitalisations for childhood injuries increased significantly from 1.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2-2.1) in 1993 to 3.1% (95% CI = 2.7-3.6) in 2004 (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Hospitalisations for injuries from motor vehicle-pedestrian collisions at this large children's hospital increased significantly in the past decade. These data underscore the need for additional research and a major concerted effort to prevent motor vehicle-pedestrian collisions among children in China.