Round Table Discussion

Abstract

Chairman Wheatley: Our theme is a discussion of prevention. We want to discuss the question: How can we help prevent accidents in children? The meeting will be divided into 2 parts. Dr. Arena and I will outline the accident problem for the first part. For the second part, we will discuss the preventive aspects and what pediatricians can do about preventing accidents. We want you to do most of the talking in this part. I would like to give you a brief picture of the dimensions of the accident problem. 1. It is the leading cause of deaths ages 1-14; kills about 14,000 at these ages annually—more than the next 6 combined (pneumonia, congenital anomalies, cancer, tuberculosis, leukemia, heart disease). 2. Every year between ages 1-5 kills twice as many children as rubeola, scarlet fever, pertussis, diphtheria, dysentery, tuberculosis and poliomyelitis combined. 3. For every fatal accident, it is estimated there are 90-150 severe injuries. No comprehensive studies are available to show the magnitude in terms of injury, cost of treatment, permanent disability in the United States child population. English hospital admission study showed 22% of the accidents requiring hospital treatment happened to children under the age of 5 years, though this age group constituted only 8% of the population. 4. About a third of all fatal accidents to children (1-14) occur in the home; for those under 5 years of age, nearly half the fatal accidents are home accidents. The home is a much more important site than this for injury to children, if we include nonfatal accidents because deaths caused by motor vehicles influences the fatal accident picture.