Injury among children attending summer camps in Greece

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe injuries sustained by campers at summer camps, calculate injury rates and identify risk factors for camp—related injuries. A sample of 8 camps from the Greek camp population participated in this injury surveillance study. Doctors and camp directors completed reports detailing the number of injuries sustained and provided specific information about each event. During the period of the study, 726 injury reports were completed. The modal age of campers sustaining an injury was 10–12 (57.4%). Some injuries occurred in camp yards (18.5%). In addition, injury events occurred primarily during afternoons (45.9%). Most injured campers were treated onsite by camp doctors (85%). Of all of the campers who sustained injuries, 13.5% were admitted for treatment at a hospital, and 7.3% came back to the camp. Lower extremities were injured most often and cut/scratch injuries were the most common diagnoses (51.1). The most common injury mechanisms were fall (34%) and slip (22.5%). Data collected via such systems can be used to calculate injury rates, to describe patterns of injury and to identify risk factors for camp-related injury. All this provides data needed to develop prevention interventions to decrease the number of youth whose camp experiences are negatively affected by injury.