Incidence and Patterns of Registered Injuries Among Children in Ongkharak District, Nakhon Nayok, Thailand
Suthee Rattanamongkolgul MD, MPH, PhD*, Adisak Plitponkarnpim MD**
Affiliation : * Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Srinakharinwirot University, Nakhon Nayok, Thailand ** Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Objective : To describe the pattern of injury incidence and to illustrate the magnitude and the burden of childhood injury in an
agricultural area in Thailand.
Material and Method: A retrospective descriptive study of new registered injury cases was conducted in a Ongkharak
District, Nakhon Nayok Province, Thailand, including the population of 12,017 aged of 0-14 years. Data were collected for
one year period from September 2006-August 2007 from medical records from 6 hospitals in the province and 14 health
centers in the district, including death certificates from local authority vital registration were reviewed over the period of one
year. The ICD-10 was used for injury classification. Proportions with 95% confidence intervals were estimated.
Results : There were 1,098 records of injuries during one year of the study. Annual incidence rate of of injury was found to be
90.5 per 1,000 population (95%CI: 85.4-95.7) with the mortality rate of 24.96 per 100,000 population (95%CI: -3.28-53.2).
About 5% of the injured children need hospital admission and 0.3% of injures are fatal. The injuries are common in the age
groups of 4-12 years. Injuries in boys are 1.5 time more common than those in girls. Common causes of injuries are non-
animate and animate forces, falls and transportations.
Conclusion : The findings from this community-wide study could be a baseline information for comparisons within this
community and other agriculture-based area and also for developing preventive measures to reduce injury and the burden.
Keywords : Injury, Children, Incidence, Epidemiology
