Neighborhood factors are an independent risk for childhood injury.

2003 SEP 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Neighborhood factors are an independent risk for childhood injury.

"Injuries in childhood are strongly related to poverty at the household level and to living in a deprived neighborhood, but it is not clear whether these effects are independent. In this prospective population study, all injuries to 5-14 year old children living in the city of Norwich, UK, and presented at the hospital Accident and Emergency Department over a 13 month period were recorded (N=3526). Information on the population of resident children and household composition was assembled from the health authority population register," scientists in England reported.

"Neighborhood information was extracted from the census and local surveys. Unadjusted risks were calculated for individual and neighborhood factors, followed by multilevel modeling in which predictors were included at three levels: individual, enumeration district and social area (neighborhood)," wrote R. Haynes and colleagues, University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Science.

"The overall injury rate was 16.44 per 100 children per year. Injury rates between neighborhoods varied two-fold and were highest in more deprived areas. In the final multilevel model injury risk was related to gender (boys vs. girls OR=1.35), age of child (OR=1.07 per year), number of adults in the household (OR=0.91 per adult), and age gap between child and eldest female (15-24 years vs. ...