A systematic review on the incidence of injuries to young children and implications for prevention and surveillance

Introduction: Childhood injuries represent a significant public health problem, with young children being injured in often predictable ways. Injury surveillance – not currently done in Canada – could track the population burden and help identify factors amenable to prevention. Methods: A systematic review of the childhood injury incidence literature was conducted using methods adapted from the Cochrane Collaboration. Particular attention was paid to identifying injuries according to developmentally sensitive age groupings to avoid masking the incidence of specific injury types in younger children. Results: Eight incidence studies met appraisal criteria. The highest injury rate was 375 per 1,000 one-year-old boys in Alberta. Despite variability in data sources and reporting methods, it was possible to use these findings to suggest new approaches to child injury surveillance that are developmentally sensitive and grounded in ecological approaches to understanding injury etiology. Discussion: The implications for child injury research, prevention, and surveillance in Canada are reviewed.