Early childhood (1–4)
Toddlers and preschoolers aged 1–4 make up the early childhood developmental stage. As children progress beyond the infant stage, they begin to grow more independent and mobile, encountering new risks and mechanisms of injury. An increase in curiosity, and interest in their surroundings mean this age group is particularly prone to accidental injury and poisoning.
Causes
Children aged 1–4 are more likely than adults to be hospitalised for injuries caused by drowning and submersion, thermal causes, choking and suffocation, accidental poisoning, and contact with objects. For each of these causes, boys make up the majority of cases (Figure 23).
Figure 23: Injury hospitalisation rate ratios of children aged 1–4 compared to adults, and sex demographic proportions, by selected external cause, Australia, 2021–22
Nature of injuries sustained
Children aged 1–4 experience higher rates of injury ED presentations than adults for the majority of injury types. This age group is at higher risk of injuries involving a foreign object (through orifice) than adults, and was 4.7 times more likely to have an ED presentation, and 3.0 times more likely to have an injury hospitalisation (Figure 24). Over a quarter of these hospitalisations was for a foreign body in the ear (27%).
Figure 24: Selected rate ratios of injury emergency department presentations and hospitalisations among children aged 1–4, by type of injury, 2021–22
Some types of injury are more prevalent in children compared to adults only in one sex. When comparing girls aged 1–4 with women, girls were:
- 2.5 times more likely than women to have an ED presentation for amputation
- 3.0 times more likely than women to be hospitalised for amputation.
Head and neck injuries made up 53% of all injury ED presentations for 1–4 year-olds, and 50% of injury hospitalisations. The sites of injury that children aged 1–4 are more likely than adults to have an ED presentation or hospitalisation are shown in Figure 25.
Figure 25: Selected rate ratios for emergency department presentations and hospitalisations among children aged 1–4, by site of injury, Australia, 2021–22
