Fewer Kids Die in Accidents

The overall death rate from unintentional injury among children and teens fell 29% from 2000 to 2009, a review of U.S. mortality data showed.

However, despite improvement in the overall rate, rates of death by poisoning in young adults - mostly from prescription drug overdose - and suffocation in infants rose, the CDC reported in the April 16 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

And unintentional injury still accounted for 37% of all deaths in the 19-and-under age group in 2009 and was the fifth leading killer of patients younger than 1, the report said.

Data for the report were collected from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System, which included death certificate data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The study categorized the mechanisms for death by unintentional injury as drowning, fall, fires and burns, motor vehicle traffic-related, other transportation-related, poisoning, suffocation, and other.

Motor vehicle-related deaths were subcategorized by occupant, pedestrian, pedal cyclist, other, or unspecified.

For all age groups, the overall accidental death rate declined except in those less than a year old, where the rate increased from 23.1 to 27.7 deaths per 100,000 from 2000 to 2009.

The decline in the overall death rate was primarily the result of a drop in accidental motor vehicle-related deaths, which decreased overall by 41%, from 9.3 per 100,000 people in 2000 to 5.5 per 100,000 people in 2009. By subcategory, occupant and pedal cyclist deaths showed the largest decreases, by 47% and 52% respectively.

Accidental deaths among children and adolescents have dropped 30 percent since 2000 but still remain the number-one killer of children and teens, according to new statistics released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday.

"More than 9,000 children died from unintentional injuries in the U.S. in 2009," said CDC principal deputy director Ileana Arias at a Monday press conference. "In the U.S., death rates from unintentional injuries in children up to age 14 were among the worst of all high-income countries."

Leading the list of fatal unintentional injuries were motor vehicle crashes, although suffocation, drowning, poisoning, fires and burns and falls also contributed to fatalities.
One expert said the CDC analysis was "encouraging," but said the drop in numbers could and should fall further.

In patients under age 1, suffocation was the primary driver of the increased overall death rate - rising by 54% from 13.8 to 21.3 per 100,000 over the 9-year period.

Although the overall death rate in patients ages 15 to 19 decreased over the study period by 33% (33.4 to 22.3 per 100,000), accidental poisoning deaths increased by 91% in patients ages 15 to 19 over the study period - from 1.7 to 3.3 per 100,000.