Accidents among children under two years of age in Great Britain

Abstract

1. In the spring of 1948 the health visitors of 422 authorities in Britain obtained information from 4683 mothers on accidental injuries sustained by their young children during the first 2 years of life. This study formed part of a questionnaire inquiry into the health and development of these young children, who had all been born in one week, 3–9 March 1946.2. The mothers seem to have remembered accurately the more serious accidents which received professional treatment during the 2 years under review. It is possible that some of the minor injuries which had not been treated were not recalled or entered on the questionnaires.3. The rate for all serious injuries which received professional care was 79·6 per 1000 children in the sample. Treated cuts were almost as frequent as treated burns or scalds, each being sustained by about 37 per 1000 children. There were only 7·5 fractures per 1000 children. The sum of the rates for each type of injury (81·3 per 1000) slightly exceeds the combined rate for all children injured (79·6 per 1000). This is due to the fact that in calculating the former rates eight children who were each involved in two serious accidents of different types were counted twice, i.e. once under each type of injury sustained.4. In 1946–8 treatment of young children for burns or scalds and for serious cuts was most frequently given by general practitioners. Children under 2 years of age were admitted to accident wards of hospitals chiefly for the treatment of serious burns or scalds. Fractures were usually treated at out-patients’ departments.5. Although almost all accidents occurred at home, variations in housing conditions, as measured by crowding and the domestic facilities available, had little effect on the incidence of accidents among children under 2 years of age. Accidents happened most frequently when the children were beginning to walk and becoming inquisitive, and most injuries occurred either because they were not steady on their feet or because they had not developed ‘heat-sense’.6. Since domestic help was rare, most children had to play in the kitchen or living room while their mothers were doing the housework, cooking and laundry. In these circumstances, they were often exposed to the risk of injury.