Trends of unintentional injury among middle school students in four areas of China during 2012-2014

Objective To analyze prevalence of unintentional injuries behaviors in a sample of middle school students representative of four districts in China during 2012-2014 and its changing trend,and to provide scientific evidences for the prevention and control.Methods Data were drawn from the National Adolescent Physical and Mental Health Surveillance among primary and secondary high school students in four districts of Xinxiang,Yangjiang,Chongqing and Shenyang from 2012 to 2014.Demographic variables,unintentional injuries were collected.Chi-square test was used to compare the prevalence of unintentional injuries behaviors by demographic characteristics,and the trend of it during 2012-2014 was observed.Results The prevalence of unintentional injuries behaviors from 2012 to 2014 was 39.1%,39.2% and 34.2%,respectively.The most common types of unintentional injuries were fall injury (18.4%),cutting (14.7%),bums and corrosive injuries (9.4%),animal bites (7.6%),road traffic injuries (6.3%).The prevalence of unintentional injuries behaviors among boys (40.7%,40.1% and 37.0%,respectively) was higher than that of girls (37.6%,37.2% and 31.6%,respectively) (P<0.01) and the prevalence of junior high school students (40.5%,41.9% and 36.0%,respectively) was higher than that of senior high school students (37.7%,36.5% and 32.5%,respectively) (P <0.01) from 2012 to 2014.The detection rate of unintentional injury was also statistically significant among four districts (P<0.01).The detection rates of Xinxiang and Yangjiang decreased from 2012 to 2014,while those of Chongqing and Shenyang showed the trend of rising firstly and then falling.Conclsion Although there is a downward trend in the prevalence of unintentional injuries behaviors in four districts,nearly one third of middle school students are still harmed by unintentional injury.Therefore,this study suggests that preventing unintentional injuries behaviors of middle school students is an important measure to cope with changes in public health.