Pediatric injury prevention for the practitioner

Abstract

An Illusion of Randomness In St. Louis, Missouri, a 2-year-old boy was found dead, floating in a small collection of water that had accumulated on top of a swimming pool cover. In Fulton County, Georgia, two children, aged 5 and 7, died in an apartment fire thought to have been started in a stereo. In Chicago, an S-month-old girl, fed and put to bed by her mother, was found dead by her sister the next morning, trapped and asphyxiated between the queen-size bed and the wall. In Worcester, Massachusetts, a 19-year-old man attempting to ignite a homemade rocket in his backyard received burns over 70% to 80% of his body. He died 3 weeks later. In Plain Township, Ohio, a ‘/-year-old girl was wheeling a television cart down the hallway of her elementary school. The cart hit a bump, and the 125lb TV toppled onto her, killing her. A l4-year-old boy in Jacksonville, Florida, suffered the same fate when after shaking a soda vending machine, the 500to SOO-lb machine fell over on top of him.l Viewed one at a time, childhood injuries appear random. This same appearance of randomness might likewise appear to physicians caring for individual patients with iron deficiency, whooping cough, or Down’s syndrome. But neither disease nor injury occurs randomly in the population. Injury rates vary with age, economics, race, and