Burden and trend analysis of injury mortality in China among children aged 0–14 years from 2004 to 2011

OBJECTIVE: To track changes of the burden and trends of childhood injury mortality among children aged 0–14 years in China from 2004 to 2011. DESIGN: National representative data from the Chinese Disease Surveillance Points system and Chinese Maternal and Child Mortality Surveillance system from 2004 to 2011 were used. Rates and 95% CIs of aged-standardised mortality, as well as the proportions of injury death, were estimated. SETTING: Urban and rural China. PARTICIPANTS: Children aged 0–14 years from 2004 to 2011. RESULTS: The proportion of injury among all deaths in children increased from 18.69% in 2004 to 21.26% in 2011. A ‘V’ shape change was found in the age-standardised injury mortality rate during the study period among the children aged 0–14 years, with the age-standardised injury mortality rate decreasing from 29.71 per 100 000 per year in 2004 to 24.12 in 2007, and then increasing to 28.12 in 2011. A similar change was observed in the rural area. But the age-standardised mortality rate decreased consistently in the urban area. The rate was higher among boys than among girls. Drowning, road traffic accidents and falls were consistently the top three causes of death among children. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood injury is an increasingly serious public health problem in China. The increasing trend of childhood injury mortality is driven by the rural areas rather than urban areas. More effective strategies and measures for injury prevention and control are needed for rural areas, boys, drowning, road traffic accidents and falls.