Child injury due to falls from playground equipment, Australia 2002-2004

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Release Date: 11 Oct 2006

Topic: Injury

AIHW

AIHW, Helps Y, Pointer S (2006) Child injury due to falls from playground equipment, Australia 2002-2004, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 15 September 2024.

APA

AIHW, Helps Y, Pointer S. (2006). Child injury due to falls from playground equipment, Australia 2002-2004. Canberra: AIHW.

MLA

AIHW, Helps Y, Pointer S. Child injury due to falls from playground equipment, Australia 2002-2004. AIHW, 2006.

Vancouver

AIHW, Helps Y, Pointer S. Child injury due to falls from playground equipment, Australia 2002-2004. Canberra: AIHW; 2006.

Harvard

AIHW, Helps Y, Pointer S 2006, Child injury due to falls from playground equipment, Australia 2002-2004, AIHW, Canberra.

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This report examines Australian hospital separations and deaths data for injuries coded as being due to unintentional falls involving playground equipment, which were sustained by children aged 0-14 years of age, in the reporting period July 2002 to June 2004.

ISSN: 1833-024X
Cat. no: INJ 91
Pages: 12

Summary

Hospitalised injury

12,091 cases of playground falls injury in the 0–14 years age group resulted in hospitalisation from July 2002-June 2004.
Children aged 5–9 years were hospitalised at 3 times the rate of 0–4 year olds, and at four times the rate of 10–14 year olds.
Climbing apparatus were the mechanism of injury for 33% of hospitalised playground fall injuries, followed by trampolines (24.6%).
Fractures were the largest injury type (85.2% of cases).
Fractures to the forearm were most common (56% of total fractures).
Fractures to the femur recorded the longest Average length of hospital stay (9.4 days).
Children aged 5–9 years had the highest proportion of fractures, intracranial injuries, dislocations, and sprains and strains.

Deaths

No deaths attributed to playground injury were identified in the reporting period.