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Abstract
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Study aim: To analyze the leading external causes of death in children in Croatia before and during the pandemic.
METHODS: The analysis of data on mortality from injuries was carried out on the basis of medical death certificates collected by the Central Burau of Statistics from death registers, and the basic causes of death are determined and coded by the Croatian Institute of Public Health. The absolute numbers of children died because of injuries from 1995 to 2021 are presented, and the rates per 100,000 for the period from 2017 to 2021 are calculated in total as well as by gender.
RESULTS: In Croatia in the period from 1995 to 2021, the leading external causes of death of children are traffic accidents, suicide and drowning. A gradual decline in mortality from injuries is recorded, mostly due to the decline in mortality from traffic accidents as the most frequent cause of violent deaths and the decline in suicides. The same order of leading causes was in the first two years of the pandemic, 2020 and 2021, without significant changes in the trend in the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, although in 2020 a lower rate was recorded for traffic accidents, and a higher rate for suicides and drownings. For boys, all mortality rates are higher than for girls.
CONCLUSIONS: Injuries are still the leading cause of death in children in Croatia after the first year of life. Since 1995, a decline in mortality due to injuries has been observed, which was more pronounced in the first two decades, and has slowed down in recent years, and intensive research is needed to find out the reason for this and, consequently, to intervene appropriately in order to reduce this avoidable cause of mortality as much as possible. In relation to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we do not find significant changes in mortality from total injuries to children and young people as well as from the leading causes in the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, although lower mortality rates due to traffic accidents, and higher for suicides and drowning, were observed in 2020. Morbidity data should also be investigated in order to get a more accurate insight into the impact of the pandemic on child injuries in Croatia.
Language: hr |