Health Indicator Report of Child injury deaths
The death of a child is a tragedy for families and communities. Injury deaths are mostly preventable, yet they continue to account for the majority of all teen deaths (13-17) and a substantial portion of other child deaths (0-12).
From 2012 to 2021, injury deaths accounted for 1,040 (24.4%) of the 4,255 deaths among children aged 0-17. In addition to these deaths, thousands of other children were injured and treated in hospitals, doctor's offices, clinics, emergency departments, homes, schools, and work sites.
From 2012 to 2021, the leading causes of injury death for children aged 0-17 in Utah were unintentional motor vehicle crashes, self-inflicted firearms wounds (suicides), suffocation (suicides), unintentional suffocation (infant safe sleep-related), and unintentional drowning/submersion.
Preventing child injury deaths and ensuring safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for every child should always be a continued priority. Achieving this requires support from all levels of the socioecological model. Individuals, families, schools, neighbors, communities, and policymakers all have responsibilities in keeping Utah children safe and thriving. Safe behaviors should be taught, modeled, and enforced, safety equipment should be readily available, understood, and required, and every child should feel the support of caring adults around them to turn to in a crisis. High-priority prevention areas include suicide prevention, motor vehicle safety, safe sleep education, and firearm safety.
The Utah child injury death rate has consistently been lower than the national rate over the last 10 years, except for in 2015 when the Utah rate overtook the national rate. From 1999 to 2021 the Utah rate of child injury death decreased 19.4%, while the national rate between 1999 and 2020 decreased 21.5%. Utah reached its lowest rate of child injury death in 2012 but since has had an increase of 17.2%, mostly due to the rising rate of youth suicide.
Child Injury Death Rate by Year, Utah and U.S. Children Aged 0-17, 1999-2021
Notes
ICD-10 codes V01-Y36, Y85-Y87, Y89, *U01-*U03. [[br]]ICD Stands for International Classification of Diseases. It is a coding system maintained by the World Health Organization and the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics used to classify causes of death on death certificates and diagnoses, injury causes, and medical procedures for hospital and emergency department visits. These codes are updated every decade or so to account for advances in medical technology. The U.S. is currently using the 10th revision (ICD-10) to code causes of death.Data Sources
- Utah Death Certificate Database, Office of Vital Records and Statistics, Utah Department of Health
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on-line data - CDC WONDER
- by Manner, Utah Children Aged 0-17, 2012-2021
- by Age Group, Utah Children Aged 0-17, 2012-2021
- by Age Group, Utah Children Aged 0-17, 2012-2021
- by Race/Ethnicity, Utah Children Aged 0-19, 2012-2021
- by Local Health District, Utah Children Aged 0-17, 2012-2021
- by Utah Small Area, Children Aged 0-17, 2012-2021
Definition
Injury deaths among children aged 0-17 due to all causes per 100,000 children (ICD-10 codes V01-Y36, Y85-Y87, Y89, *U01-*U03)Numerator
Number of injury deaths among children aged 0-17 (ICD-10 codes V01-Y36, Y85-Y87, Y89, *U01-*U03)Denominator
Total number of children aged 0-17 in the Utah populationHealthy People Objective IVP-1.1:
Reduce fatal injuriesU.S. Target: 53.7 deaths per 100,000 population
State Target: 57 deaths per 100,000 population
What Is Being Done?
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Violence and Injury Prevention Program (VIPP) organizes the Child Fatality Review Committee (CFRC) a prevention-focused review of all child injury deaths in the state. Reports are released annually with data and recommendations for the prevention of child injury death that can be found on the VIPP website, [[br]][https://vipp.health.utah.gov/essentials-for-childhood-data/].Available Services
Utah Department of Health, Violence and Injury Prevention Program [[br]]801-538-6141 [[br]][http://health.utah.gov/vipp/] Utah Poison Control Center [[br]]801-581-7504 (for general information) [[br]]1-800-222-1222 (emergency hotline) [[br]][https://poisoncontrol.utah.edu/] Use Only As Directed [[br]][http://useonlyasdirected.org/] Utah Fire Marshal [[br]]801-284-6350 [[br]][http://firemarshal.utah.gov/] Utah SAFE KIDS Coalition [[br]]801-538-6852 [[br]][https://www.safekids.org/coalition/safe-kids-utah] Primary Children's Hospital [[br]]801-588-2000 [[br]][https://intermountainhealthcare.org/locations/primary-childrens-hospital/] Utah Office of Highway Safety [[br]]801-293-2480 [[br]][https://highwaysafety.utah.gov/] Utah Safety Council [[br]]801-262-5400 [[br]][http://www.utahsafetycouncil.org] Intermountain Injury Control & Research Center [[br]]801-581-6410 [[br]][http://medicine.utah.edu/pediatrics/critical_care/research/iicrc.php] Utah AAA [[br]]801-364-5615 [[br]][https://mountainwest.aaa.com/] ===National Resources:=== National Center for Injury Prevention and Control [[br]][http://www.cdc.gov/injury/] National Highway Transportation Safety Administration [[br]][http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/] National SAFE KIDS Campaign [[br]][http://www.safekids.org/] Children's Safety Network [[br]][http://www.childrenssafetynetwork.org/] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission [[br]][http://www.cpsc.gov/] [[br]] ==Health Program Information== The VIPP collaborates with the Utah Office of Highway Safety, Zero Fatalities campaign, and local health departments to conduct educational campaigns which target 16- to 19-year-old drivers, young pedestrians, law enforcement, etc. as funding allows. The Utah SAFE KIDS Coalition works to prevent unintentional injuries among children through raising community awareness, influencing policies, promoting safety, and establishing private/public partnerships. Inspections and instructions on the proper use of car seats, booster seats, and bicycle helmets are offered routinely to the public with car seat checkpoints and helmet education and distribution statewide. The Violence and Injury Prevention Program (VIPP) is a trusted and comprehensive resource for data related to violence and injury. Through education, this information helps promote partnerships and programs to prevent injuries and improve public health. The VIPP goals are to a) focus prevention efforts on reducing intentional and unintentional injury, b) conduct education aimed at increasing awareness and changing behaviors that contribute to the occurrence of injury, c) strengthen local health department capacity to conduct local injury prevention programs, d) promote legislation, policy changes, and enforcement that will reduce injury hazards and increase safe behaviors, e) collaborate with private and public partners, and f) improve the Utah Department of Health capacity to collect mortality and morbidity data from multiple sources and conduct injury epidemiology for use in prevention planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Page Content Updated On 02/21/2023,
Published on 02/22/2023
