Search

Background Injuries to the head comprise 20% to 39% of all school-related injuries. Head injuries among special education students have not been adequately described. Objectives (1) To examine the incidence and characteristics of head injuries in children enrolled in special education and (2) to determine the factors that increase the risk of sustaining a head injury compared with an injury to another part of the body. Methods Pupil Accident Reports for 6769 students enrolled in 17 of 18 special education schools in 1 large urban school district during the academic years 1994-1998 were reviewed, and information on the nature of injury, external cause, and activity was abstracted. Head-injured and nonhead-injured cases were identified and compared by race, sex, age, characteristics of injury, and disability category. Results Six hundred ninety-seven injury events were reported during the 4-year study period. The overall injury rate was 4.7 injuries per 100 student-years. Two hundred five children (29.4%) sustained injuries to the head, and the rate of head injury was 1.3 injuries per 100 student-years. Falls were the leading cause of injury. Head injuries were most commonly associated with physical education and unstructured play and usually occurred on the playground. Disproportionately more head than nonhead injuries were sustained in the classroom (12% vs 8%) and the bathroom (9% vs 3%). Compared with children with emotional/mental disabilities, children with multiple disabilities had the highest risk of a head injury (incidence density ratio, 2.4 [95% confidence interval, 1.6-3.5]), followed by children with physical disabilities (incidence density ratio, 1.8 [95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.1]). There appeared to be no significant difference in the rate of head injury by sex and age. Conclusions Modifications of the classroom, bathroom, and playground environments might reduce the risk of head injuries in children enrolled in special education. Special modifications and increased supervision may, in particular, reduce the risk of head injury for children with physical and multiple disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: This study determined the incidence of violence-related injuries in an urban school district, and compared characteristics of unintentional and intentional school injuries. A sample of student Accident Report Forms completed for a school district in 1997 were reviewed for demographic characteristics of the student and injury characteristics. Injuries were categorized as unintentional, intentional, or of unknown intent. Annual incidence rates of injury per 100 students were calculated by intention, grade, and gender. Comparisons between unintentional and intentional injuries were made using odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. 0f 11,674 annualized injuries, 77.2% were unintentional, 16.8% were intentional, and 6.0% were of unknown intent. The overall annualized injury rate was 1.74 injuries per 100 students/year. The unintentional injury rate was almost five times the intentional injury rate of 0.29 injuries per 100 students/year. High school students had both the highest unintentional and intentional injury rates. Males in all grade levels had the highest rates of injury. Most injuries occurred during school hours. Intentional injuries were almost three times more likely to be associated with unstructured play or after school playground hours; were less likely to be witnessed events; and were more likely to occur on the surrounding school grounds than unintentional injuries. Unintentional injuries represent a greater risk to school children than do intentional injuries. A potential area to focus interventions for intentional injuries are modifications of the school environment and surrounding grounds to improve supervision and monitoring. (J Sch Health. 2003;73(3): 101-106) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During one winter season, two children with rotavirus gastroenteritis who developed fulminant disseminated intravascular coagulation were seen at our hospital. Disseminated intravascular coagulation probably resulted from hypovolemic shock and acidosis, although extraintestinal spread of the virus cannot be excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]