Patterns of youth injury: a comparison across the northern territories and other parts of Canada

Abstract

BackgroundInjury is the leading cause of death for young people in Canada. For those living in the northern territories (Yukon, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories), injury represents an even greater problem, with higher rates of injury for people of all ages in northern areas compared with the rest of Canada; however, no such comparative studies have focussed specifically on non-fatal injury in youth.ObjectivesTo profile and examine injuries and their potential causes among youth in the northern territories as compared with other parts of Canada.DesignCross-sectional data from the 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey (youth aged 11–15 years) were examined for the Canadian northern territories and the provinces (n=26,078). Individual survey records were linked to community-level data to profile injuries and then study possible determinants via multilevel regression modelling.ResultsThe prevalence of injury reported by youth was similar in northern populations and other parts of Canada. There were some minimal differences by injury type: northern youth experienced a greater percentage of neighbourhood (p<0.001) and fighting (p=0.02) injuries; youth in the Canadian provinces had a greater proportion of sport-related injuries (p=0.01). Among northern youth, female sex (RR=0.87, 95% CI 0.81–0.94), average (RR=0.88, 95% CI 0.80–0.97) or above-average affluence (RR=0.84, 95% CI 0.76–0.91), not being drunk in the past 12 months (RR=0.77, 95% CI 0.69–0.85), not riding an all-terrain vehicle (RR=0.81, 95% CI 0.68–0.97) and not having permanent road access (RR=0.89, 95% CI 0.80–0.98) were protective against injury; sport participation increased risk (RR=1.45, 95% CI 1.33–1.59).ConclusionsPatterns of injury were similar across youth from the North and other parts of Canada. Given previous research, this was unexpected. When implementing injury prevention initiatives, individual and community-level risk factors are essential to understand; however, specific positive safety assets that might exist in different community contexts must also be considered.

Self‐reported injury in Australian young adults: demographic and lifestyle predictors

“…Male gender was found to strongly predict injury, with males being more than twice as likely to be injured. This result concords with almost all published injury data where gender has been considered 26,29,30,34 . Moreover, males have been elsewhere reported to be more likely to undertake risky behaviours 35 .…”

“…This result concords with almost all published injury data where gender has been considered. 26,29,30,34 Moreover, males have been elsewhere reported to be more likely to undertake risky behaviours. 35 That adolescent males engage in more risky behaviours, leading to higher rates of injury, may in part relate to their higher alcohol consumption.…”

“…Similarly, Stokes, Ashby and Clapperton 16 found that, for all age groups, those in the lower three quintiles had higher rates of injury, and that the disparity was greatest for children and youth aged 0–24 years. In addition to injury prevalence, SES has been associated with the severity of injuries with low SES being associated with higher levels of injury severity, 26–30 and higher rates of intentional injury 31 . Once injury cause is considered, a more complex picture arises.…”

Differences in survival outcome for severely injured paediatric trauma by type of trauma centre

“…Paediatric injury remains the most common reason for hospitalisation and of death of young children aged 1–15 years in Australia . Worldwide evidence echoes the Australian experience, with injury the leading cause of death and long‐term disability among children in the USA, Canada and the UK . In low or middle‐income countries, injury also remains a leading cause of death among young children…”

Indigenous Youth Development through Sport and Physical Activity: Sharing Voices, Stories, and Experiences

“…Indigenous youth also recognized that limited access to physical activity and sport opportunities acted as a barrier. For some Indigenous youth, place of residence was a significant barrier, whether opportunities were limited because of the rural or remote location of the community (Baillie et al, 2016;Byrnes et al, 2015) or the socioeconomic status of the urban neighbourhood they resided in (Kerpan & Humbert, 2015). Even when opportunities were physically accessible, access to transportation and the cost of the activity were commonly mentioned communitylevel barriers.…”