Is your child more likely to be injured?

Sure, children get hurt, but a new study shows why.

David L. Nordstrom in the family medicine department at the Medical School surveyed 1,000 households in Iowa. He was looking for connections between injury episodes and certain characteristics of children, ages birth to 17 years, and their families.

After examining social, psychological, biological and behavioral factors of 621 children, he learned that 137, or 22 percent, of them were injured during the past year. Among them, children on a sports team were twice as likely to get hurt than individuals not on a team. Similarly, children who engaged in binge drinking were three times as likely to be injured than those who didn’t. When these findings were examined by sex, the associations were stronger in girls and weaker in boys.

By gathering information about the children and families, Nordstrom and fellow researchers say they were able to investigate a broad range of potential risk factors for childhood non-fatal injury.