The Connecticut Department of Public Health’s (DPH) Injury Prevention program collects annual data on the number of recorded emergency department visits for minors ranging from birth to age nineteen. The injuries have a broad variety of categorizations, including at least 19 specific types of injury. These injuries can range from falls, burns and overexertion to assault and poisoning. Overall, the data has seen a gradual decline after a peak in 2007, and shows a continued decline.

The rate of emergency department visits for injury varies by age group. Children aged 0-4 age group had the highest rate for a number of years, followed by the 15-19 age group, then 10-14, and finally 5-9. All age groups saw a decline in injuries requiring an ER from 2013-2014. Unintentional injuries made up 85.6% of all injuries compared to intentional, though both have seen a prominent decline; and males have been consistently more likely to require an emergency department visit versus females. Despite the large gap between white and black instances of injuries requiring an ER, both have seen gradual declines for two consecutive years. In addition, the category of ‘Other Race’ saw a substantial decline in visits. Other race includes those not explicitly define, so the decline may also be attributed to greater accuracy on ER reports. Only Hispanic youths saw a slight increase in their rate of visits for injuries.

Emergency department visits for children have two significant consequences that impact a child’s overall outcomes. The first is missing time from regular, age-appropriate activities and school days depending on the nature and severity of the emergency department visit. The second, which correlates with the length of stay and type of injury, is the financial cost to families. For many families, these costs and any secondary costs associated with the incident can have a crippling effect on their budget for months, if not years, and divert funds that would otherwise be spent to benefit the child.

• Department of Public Health
• Department of Children and Families
• Office of the Child Advocate
• Connecticut Poison Control Center
• Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles
• Connecticut Department of Transportation

• Support evidence-based fall-reduction and child safety seat programs.
• Train health care and mental health providers on suicide risk.
• Develop and implement a public education and media campaign about the dangers of prescription drugs that is geared towards the youth.
• Focus programmatic efforts on preventing injuries and deaths related to suicide and violence in CT.
• Advocate for the mandatory use of helmets by bicyclists.
• Train athletes on the importance of and methods for warming up, stretching, taping, using joint braces, etc. to prevent specific injuries.
• Promote use of the CDC’s free online courses for health professionals and school coaches, parents, and athletes on preventing, recognizing, and responding to a concussion http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/
• Partner with coaches, educators, athletic and recreational groups to promote use of appropriate protective clothing and equipment for sports and recreational activities: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/publications/concussions/concussions.pdf
• Form partnerships among State agencies and schools to incorporate sports injury prevention into health education programs.
• Promote development and maintenance of playgrounds that meet guidelines for Public Playground Safety.
• Develop a comprehensive home safety program for families and caregivers, focusing on injury risks for children.
• Identify, access, and analyze potential alternative sources of data on causes of and locations of falls for specific age groups, including home, recreational, and sports-related falls.

Strategies contributed by staff from the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) and their Injury Prevention Program (IPP).