Citation

Falcone RA, Brown RL, Garcia VF. J. Pediatr. Surg. 2007; 42(1): 172-6; discussion 176-7.

Affiliation

Division of Pediatric and Thoracic Surgery, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA. richard.falcone@cchmc.org

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2006.09.015

PMID

17208560

Abstract

PURPOSE: Injury epidemiology is the underappreciated foundation of injury prevention and control strategies. Given the substantial disparity of infant injury-related mortality between African Americans (AA) and whites in our region, we sought to better understand the epidemiology of infant injury-related mortality rates. METHODS: Our trauma database was reviewed for all infant injuries over a 10-year period. The mortality rates were analyzed based on race, mechanism, and health insurance type. RESULTS: From 1995 to 2004, 1270 infants were identified. Sixty-nine percent were white, 26% AA, and 5% were other. Overall mortality was 4.8%. There were significant disparities in mortality comparing AA to whites: overall, 9.6% vs 2.8%*; abuse, 15% vs 4%*; suffocation, 100% vs 55%* (*P < .05). Although 75% of AA vs 40% of whites were insured by Medicaid, when separated by insurance type, the disparity in mortality rates between races remained significant. CONCLUSIONS: African-American infants have 3.5 times increased risk of death from preventable injuries compared to white infants. This disparity persists despite controlling for type of health insurance, a surrogate for socioeconomic status. Understanding these disparities and developing injury-prevention programs targeting high-risk mechanisms of injury such as abuse and suffocation among AA is critical toward eventually eliminating these preventable deaths.

Language: en