The Importance of Accident-Proneness in the Aetiology of Head Injuries in Childhood

Accidental head injury in childhood

“…Though it has been suggested that children admitted with head injury come from an accident-prone background (Hjern and Nylander, 1964), only 1% of our cases had been previously admitted for injury. This is comparable to Partington's figure of 1 6% (Partington, 1960).…”

“…The fact that head injury is twice as common in boys as in girls has been shown in most previous surveys (Rowbotham et al, 1954;Burkinshaw, 1960;Partington, 1960;Read et al, 1963;Hendrick, Harwood-Hash, and Hudson, 1964;Klonoff and Robinson, 1967;Rune, 1970), and is probably due to the more adventurous spirit of older boys. Though it has been suggested that children admitted with head injury come from an accident-prone background (Hjern and Nylander, 1964), only 1% of our cases had been previously admitted for injury.…”

Head injuries in children: predisposing factors accident conditions, accident proneness and sequelae.

“…A public health nurse visited the homes of all children included in the project in order to interview the parent (s), using a pre-established data format; for the emergency and hospital groups, the visit was made 24 to 72 hours after the child's visit to the emergency department or admission to hospital. The variables which were recorded for the emergency and hospital groups included: (1) intelligence; (2) social maturity; (3) informant; (4) census tract; (5) race; (6) marital status; (7) occupation of father; (8) occupation of mother; (9) education of father; (10) education of mother; (11) premature birth; (12) (10), (12) to (16), as well as (23) and (24) were recorded for the control group.…”

“…The same public health nurse re-interviewed the parent who was the informant during the initial examination. The variables which were recorded during the re-examination included: (1) complaints (sequelae); (2) subsequent head injury; (3) subsequent accidents; (4) relationship with peers; (5) relationship at home; (6) relationship at school; (7) reactions of children to trauma; (8) reactions of parents of injured children to trauma; (9) for each of the six comparisons noted above. The results section of this paper will record only those comparisons that yielded significant chi-squares.…”

Neurobehavioral Sequelae of Minor Head Injuries in Children

“…It has also been reported that families with more stressful life events are more likely to seek medical attention for minor problems [17], Our data, derived from an inner city population seeking care in an emergency room, cannot specifically answer this étio logie question. Additional data are also required to resolve the issue of whether a child's temperament makes him/her more accident-prone [18], This study indicates that children who have sustained a minor injury, whether head or otherwise, are at risk for developing transient functional morbidity. We therefore recommend that parents of all children who sustain minor injuries should be counseled that their children may experience transient behavioral problems such as clinging, irritability, sleep disturbances and hyperactivi ty in addition to transient headaches for mild headtrauma patients.…”